Things We Lost In The Fire
by xyzisme
Summary: Post Finale. Katara struggles to trust Zuko, facing betrayals and other troubles, when they are forced to work together after the Fire Nation is put into danger. Angsty-fluffy-saveyoufromethepiratey Zutaraness. Slightly AU, see chapter 1 for summary.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Don't own it, if I did, my story would be the way things went.**

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What if?**

The Southern Raiders had never happened?

Katara hadn't really forgiven Zuko?

Something had happened to Aang while he was fighting the Fire Lord?

And then Katara disappeared?

And Zuko had to find her.

And whatever happened to the others?

Find out.

Some aspects of finale altered, but mostly the same. Not really an AU.

Look out for the next chapter!

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Keep reading! and I still don't own Avatar! I finally got the random line breaks at the top out, thanks to my reviewer - AvatarLover1...also please go and vote on the poll in my profile!  
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	2. Chapter One: Guilt

**Disclaimer: Don't own Avatar, but this is my first Avatar fanfiction. Give it a read and review! **

**The song to go with this chapter is **Guilt **by** The Long Blondes. **I recommend you listen to it while you read the chapter! You can find it here - http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watchQUESTIONMARKv=hmncxVG-QxQ Just replace DOT with . and QUESTIONMARK with ?  
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**What if?**

**Chapter One** - Guilt

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Let me spin you a tale of things that might have been. In every universe there are thousands of alternate possibilities for each situation, and now listen to a tale of what would have happened if a few different choices had been made. Who knows? They might have been..._

Zuko sighs once more as he looks down at the message in his hand. Every time he looks at it he feels another rush of a strange mix of emotions. Sadness, guilt, worry and something else he can't - or doesn't want to - identify. He tries to tell himself to stop worrying. It's a letter. Nothing else. A letter. He even knows the words by heart now, having read through it so many times.

_Zuko, _reads the letter. Of course the writer has not bothered with any formal titles. It is the words after this which concern him most. _Katara's missing. You know she's not been herself after it happened. But this time we haven't heard from her at all. Normally she sends a message every few days. _This too is different from the Katara he had known once. She could not bear to be separated from her family. When she had to be away from them she would send a message every day, even every few hours. Zuko has rarely been on the receiving end of this overprotectiveness (so rarely, and for such short a time has he ever been on Katara's good side) but he knows what it was like.

He turns back to the message. _I know you're all busy with your super important Fire Lord of the world duties but I need you to find her. I'm worried about her. You know how she hasn't been herself. I would go myself, but Suki has threatened bodily harm if I ever leave her during this 'state that I've put her in'. And you never want to cross a Kyoshi Warrior, especially a leader. And when she's pregnant and hormonal too. Trust me Zuko, you don't want to cross her. _Despite himself, Zuko can't help laughing at this. Sokka's letters manage to convey a refreshing whiff of old times. There is very rarely a time when he does not long for the way things have once been.

But it is the last line of the letter that Zuko hates to read. _You owe it to us._ From anyone else he would have considered this an insult and treacherous. But Sokka, he knows, has not intended it to be this way. He is just expressing what he feels and although he will probably get a cuff across the head from Suki (who has not been slowed down after pregnancy) if she ever reads that line, Zuko knows he is right. The sense of guilt has never ceased to leave him.

Now, the only question is - what will he do? It is true that there is no one else Sokka will trust with the job. And for now, Sokka is set to remain in the South Pole for a long time - although he has offered Suki the option to have her baby born in the Earth Kingdom, Suki has decided there is no better place for the baby to be born than its future home (which earned her an embarrassing display of affection from Sokka, who had been afraid that she would miss the Earth Kingdom too much). Suki and Sokka have got married shortly after _that_ day and despite everything the ceremony had brought a gleam of light into otherwise dark days. Shortly afterward had come the news that Suki was pregnant (although it was most decidedly not a shotgun wedding, given the dates) and this was where they were now.

Sokka, despite his penchant to behave slightly younger than his age (read: childishly and immaturely) has proved his worth often enough. The Water Tribes elect their leader democratically, and since Hakoda has retired to spend time with his future grandchild (and its parents of course) Bato has taken his place. However, overwhelming support has resulted in Sokka being elected the Deputy and future Chief of the Water Tribe. It was wholly inappropriate for Zuko to call them peasants. Which he never does now anyway.

But will he go?

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Three voices come at the same time. Zuko has called a meeting of his nearest and dearest, those he trusts most. "Yes," come two of the voices and "No," comes a third and unexpected voice. Zuko has expected support from Ursa at least, although he has relied on the others to prevail upon him to stay. She gives him an apologetic smile as she sees him look at her in surprise.

"I'm sorry, Zuko," she says in the gentle voice he has known and loved for a long time. "I'm just being a selfish mother who wants her child with her for a long time. I think you've been overworking yourself with your new duties. I've changed my mind. Go, you need a break. Iroh and I can look after everything here. We've subdued all the rebellions and our nation is ready to enter its true Golden Age."

Zuko is slightly exasperated, he has expected more protest from them, which is exactly why he had asked. He wants to be convinced not to go. He will not shirk his duty, but if there are enough pressing concerns it can be postponed.

"You know you have to," comess an unassuming voice which nevertheless has a lot of force behind it. Mai always stands up for what she believes in and she is so close to Zuko now that he trusts her opinion in almost every matter. Their romantic relationship has bubbled down (sometimes Zuko suspects they had only done it to show Azula they could) but they are close as ever. Zuko has expected protest from her, but after she makes this remark she stays quiet for the rest of the time. Typical Mai. She never says anything more than what she thinks needed to be said and leaves everyone else to sort it out.

Iroh's words that convince him in the end. In an uncharacteristically serious tone, Iroh remarks, "You must go on this journey, Zuko. I sense that it is important. After all, a caterpillar-chicken must go through hardships to become the butterfly-squirrel." Iroh has always had some kind of superior spiritual connection with the Spirit World. Is this one of its manifestations? Nothing to rival the Avatar of course, but above most people. This is one of the reasons he is Grandmaster of the White Lotus. Much as he makes light of it, this responsibility is only accorded to the one second in spiritual power to the Avatar.

Zuko makes up his mind. "All right. I'll go." He is careful not to let his emotions about this show on his face but he knows that these people, those closest to him, know. They can see his regret.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Can anyone guess what the other emotion that Zuko felt at the start was? Anyone who gets it right will get one point. 25 points = 1 oneshot for you! I'm sorry this isn't longer, but I guess it's easier to read this way. At least now I have the next chapter planned out! Also, why does Z not want to meet K at all?**

**Please review! I've decided that if I get to 100 reviews (in the future) the 100th reviewer will get a one shot as well. 200th will get a brief mention in the story (as a character!) and 300th etc will also get something great! Ideas for something to give them? And, if I ever ever get to 1000 (hey, I can dream) the story will be dedicated to the 1000th reviewer and I can give them something else they want, as long as it is in my power and not monetary. No shallow reviewers ;)**

**UPDATE (17/12/2008): Slight revamping of chapter since I changed the tense of the story. Also took the opportunity to add a few minor things and correct a few errors. Sorry in advance for all the extra story alerts.  
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	3. Chapter Two: Emptiness

**Disclaimer: (Something original and funny - unlike this about how I don't own Avatar but I do own this story so you can't use it)**

**This is the longest chapter I've ever written for a story. Read and enjoy - it's a late birthday present for myself. Give me presents by reviewing? Rewards remain the same. **

**Songs for this chapter are: **My Immortal **by **Evanescence** (find it here but replace the DOT with . and QMARK with ? - http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watchQMARKv=idd_92ajjwY** ) **and if that ends before you finish reading, **Both Sides Now **by **Joni Mitchell **(link - again replace DOT with . and QMARK with ? - http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=JqQlfFuQFXo ) . Listen to the songs! They enhance the emotions of the chapters. And give me suggestions for songs. If you give me one that I use and haven't thought of - I promise I'll be honest - you get a point! Lots of points to be gotten this chapter, see the end for details!  
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**Chapter Two** - Emptiness

_We've heard enough about one of these people and what caused this significant decision. Sometimes the best way to tell a tale is to find out what everyone is doing. So what was the other important person of the story doing? Alas, she has not had the kindest of fates._

Katara sits quietly in the corner of the ship. She barely notices anything around her, not even where she is. She vaguely remembers being escorted onto the ship. She has been captured - how long ago? She does not remember. It could have been days or hours. They have certainly not had any trouble capturing her. They are slave traders, she thinks. She would have been guarded much more closely had the guards realized that this is the Waterbender who had helped the Avatar. However this scrawny girl with permanent dark circles under her eyes bears no resemblance to the strong almost-woman who had once been.

She is distracted slightly from her thoughts by a louder disturbance than usual. This is not the wailing of parents and children separated from each other which she has almost grown used to. This voice has something in it that she has not heard for a long time in the places she has been in. The voice has spirit and a hint of humor, something which reminds her of herself...and Aang. With that, Katara once more withdraws into herself.

Unfortunately the voice will not allow her to. "You mangy son of a dog-lizard. How dare you? I demand to speak to your captain." Katara lifts her gaze enough to see some kind of small being standing next to the bars in the solitary cell opposite her own. Clearly this person warrants guarding, if the amount of noise that is coming from him or her is even marginally proportional to the person's strength. Katara finds herself unable to tell what gender this person is. Before puberty, boys and girls sound very similar - shrill and high. And long hair is in fashion for boys of all kingdoms now thanks to Zuko. Although Zuko's hair is exactly as it had been on his travels, it is still longer than had been the fashion. Of course, _his _hair is the new fashion now. Everybody just casts Aang aside.

The child is dressed in nondescript clothing, marking her out as a commoner. Most probably an orphan - they are the most common prey of the slave traders who are still alive and thriving in the Earth Kingdom. The Fire Nation has (almost) managed to stamp them out, but a few underground networks still exist. Katara has no idea where they are headed, but it doesn't matter. She has been captured, but escape isn't on her mind. What is the point? She might escape, or she might be sold. Either way no fate can be worse than the one she currently enjoys, even before the capture. At least this way she gets regular meals and drink as part of the package.

The guards who are appointed to the child pay it no attention. They seem to take the noise as part of their job. Katara finds it hard to do the same although she has had no problem blocking the other noises in the hold of the ship out. This sound is just too achingly familiar. _No,_ she has moved past all this now. _Enough!_ The hold falls silent and Katara realizes that she has yelled her thoughts aloud. Her mouth feels dry and her throat hoarse from disuse. Once she was always yelling good-naturedly at one of the members of their little group, which of course Zuko was _never _a part of. But she is not going to go into that now. She is not bitter. She just will not bother giving him the attention he so seems to want.

Unpleasantly for Katara, the focus of the group is now on her. Silence rules the hold, even the child has stopped its noise. The guards seem glad for the distraction and go along with it. "So, you have something to say, girl?" grins the first in a manner that is unpleasantly familiar. Katara retreats into her shell. She ignores everything and everyone around her.

The guard is, justifiably according to his companion, irritated at receiving no response and at the chuckles from his companion - who seems amused that even one as insignificant as Katara ignores his fellow guard, takes a few steps threateningly towards Katara. He moves his arms around slightly and leers as his muscles rippled. And not in a good way. Katara continues to gaze straight ahead and ignore the guard completely. Needless to say, he is not happy about this. "Hey!" he shouts. She doesn't move a muscle. She's used to playing games like this and has learnt the longer you stay still, eventually their attention will turn to something more interesting and they will forget about you.

The guard is almost at the door of the cell now, judging from the wailing by the other women and children in her cage, who beg to be spared. They shrink towards the corners of the room, as far away from Katara and the door of the cell as possible. Katara could have told them that this was pointless. She has experience with these types of people - once they have a target this was all they would focus on. Look at Zuko, the true Zuko not the cover he had shown to them when he joined their group. He had never let Aang go. Even when he had left his father he had just come to Aang in some kind of attempt to get Aang to trust him.

Katara is once again distracted from her thoughts by the voice of the child. This _thing_ will just not let her think, will it? Even more amazing are the child's words. "Leave her alone, you big bully!" shouts the child in a truly defiant manner.

In this 'disciplined' slaving ship, the downtrodden people behave exactly the way people had during Ozai's rule - silent mutterings but no protests, just sad acceptance. In some ways it seems to Katara that it is almost due to those people that Ozai had gotten so powerful. It only required a few rebellious people to make his hold shaky. They inspire the rest. It is simple crowd psychology. Too bad no one wants to rebel. Or if they do, they are like Jet - inspited by their personal grievances and certainly no role models.

The child's shout serves it's purpose, as Katara has known it would. Despite herself, she grows slightly interested in the exchanges between the child and the guard and begins to imperceptibly follow the conversation with her ears and eyes, looking up slightly. The guard is now moving back towards the door of the cell opposite. He does not seem inclined to harm the child, content to taunt her with his words. "So, you trying to protect this girl, eh, kid?" he asked. "Well, you _certainly _scared me," he drawled. "Too bad she has to be sold sometime. How are you going to protect her when she gets sold to a man who likes to see her dress up in pretty little clothes. Or dress down, you never know what-"

"_SHUT UP! _Shutupshutupshutup!" The child now seems almost as bad as Katara herself. All the child's previous swagger and threatening manner have vanished, leaving it with a desperate attempt to shut out the words it is hearing. "You don't know anything. She'll go to a noble house where they will respect her and only make her do light work." The second guard now decides it is time to join in the 'fun'. "I hear noblemen from noble families don't mind something fun on the side either," he baits.

Katara remains unaffected by the discussion, despite the anxious glances from those around her, who have now also realized the fates they may face. She doesn't care too much what happens to her. The worst has already occurred. But the child seems greatly affected by the guards' words for once as if realizing that the world is not as simple as it had thought and is unable to let the words go. The guards seem content with the child's anguish and leave everyone be. Everything in the hold of the cell slowly returns to normal except for the child who sits quietly in it's cell, thinking deeply. The guards seem to find this amusing and are unworried.

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"Pssssssssssst!" comes a voice that Katara instantly knows is directed at her. It is the bothersome child once more. It is now some time late at night as Katara can tell from the tiny window near the top of the room and only one guard mans the hold as most of the occupants are asleep. This guard too is currently snoring deeply at the moment and the child seems to have dismissed him as a threat. The rest of the people in the hold are in various states of restlessness in their cells. None of them apart from the youngest children can ever sleep - they are too worried for that. But once in a while exhaustion forces them to lie down for a while, as most of them are at the moment.

The hissing sound is repeated and Katara is forced to look up as the guard stirs slightly. She does not want to attract any more attention than she already has. It takes her a while to make out the child's features in the darkness, but once the child realizes she was looking at it, it continues, expecting no further acknowledgement. "What do you say we break our way out of this joint?" Katara almost smiles slightly at the child's use of ridiculous terminology - another first for a long time. But she does not respond.

The child raises it's voice to a piercing whisper which causes a few people to rise from their restless slumbers and raise their heads with a glimmer of hope. "Come _on!_ Slavery is technically illegal and I'm sure there's more of us than them. All we have to do is fight back! You don't want what will happen otherwise," the child pleads. It almost seems as though it is trying to convince Katara for it's own reasons. Katara does not release this uncharitable thought as she once would have. Once she would never even have thought of it. But she has learned not to trust people easily.

"When you learn things as I have, you will learn there are many worse things you can suffer," Katara says softly. For a while Katara thinks that the child has not heard her although some others have heard and recognized her, causing the murmuring whispers she is so used to now.

"Used to help the Avatar..."  
"I heard they were _together..._"  
"They had that group..."  
"And then _it_ happened..."

Katara tunes out the voices as usual. She has gotten good at it. There was a time when even these whispers had caused her agony, but experience has taught her more. Now she merely pretends she hasn't heard. She realized the child has heard her though when she almost whispers, "But you _have _to!"

And the memories just overwhelm her then. Aang's hopeful, curious face. Toph's sarcastic grin. Sokka's clumsy antics. Katara's next action surprises even her. Slightly clumsily from lack of practice, she bends water out of the drinking bottles, splits it into seven pieces and guides it to the lock of each cell, where it freezes in place to form a key. A flick of her wrist turns the key and makes the murmuring rise to a muttering. The guard stirs, but is quickly 'coaxed' back into unconsciousness by Katara.*****

Katara finds herself taking the lead. Really, will surprises never cease? "Enough," she calls clearly but softly. Amazingly, everyone falls silent and looks to her for directions. She does not feel equipped to help them. But they want something and so she tells them what she knows. "The ship is very close to land right now. I can move us there, and when we get off make sure to avoid whatever or whichever places got you here in the first place. Now _go_!"

The people listen. Katara finds that although her skills are rusty, a waterbending master does not stop being one from lack of practice, despite whatever Master (Grandpa?) Pakku had said. While she is at it, she 'persuades' the other crew members on the ship to ignore what is happening on the ship. When the ship reaches the shore, she instructs the former prisoners on the nearest authorities to report the crew to. Meanwhile, Katara soon realizes that the child has not moved. Exasperated, she orders her to leave with the rest. "What about you?" asks the child.

"I'll be fine," Katara lies smoothly. The child looks into Katara's eyes, nods slightly and leaves, but not before whispering something into Katara's ear which makes her blush with embarrassment and rage and convinces her not to follow the others. That is what being with people does to you.

Katara stays on the ship in the hold and is unsurprised when one of the guards (she had known he was there, after all and has chosen him as the least threatening one) comes down and exclaims in surprise at the state of the ship. "Well, I might as well still sell you although you're probably mentally handicapped for not leaving," he says. "I never liked the captain and I'll get some money. Hm. I'd keep you, but they pay better money if you're 'fresh'." He is talking to himself, not expecting a response or resistance. After all, she has stayed back. What will she know?

Still, Katara is surprised when the next day when she is taken to meet her new master (after the guard receives a pretty little sum of money to go back to his village with - she doesn't blame him though, he doesn't know better) and she meets someone she has once met. Someone who brings back many good and bad memories. More bad than good. Because even good memories are turned bad now by the pain they bring and the memories he inspired were never good to begin with, despite her little contact with him. "Hello," he says and Katara finds herself wishing for this all to be over.

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***(A/N - You decide how!)**

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Katara seems to be thinking about Aang a lot, but this is a Zutara. I will deliver on that. But I will have no Aang bashing in this story! Can anyone guess what happened and why Katara is so indifferent? You'll get 5 points for a perfect answer, which I don't expect because I thought it up! 1 point for a good name for the child!**** At first, she was no gender but at some point I decided in my subconscious that the child was a girl and soon after I consciously realized I was writing for a girl. So it's a girl. Should I up my rating to a T rating?**** Tell me. Another point if I like your ending to the sentence the guard is saying when interrupted by the child! Also, a shoutout to my one Slovakian reader.**

**Also, what do you think about the movie casting. Jesse McCartney? No way. I know a guy personally who looks exactly like a Zuko. I have a secret crush on the guy, but he doesn't act like Zuko so I haven't acted on it! But what do you think Zuko did to make Katara like this? Or (dun dun dun) was it Zuko?**

**And who's the person at the end? 1 point for the right answer. Reminder - ****25 points = 1 oneshot for you!  
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**Please review! I've decided that if I get to 100 reviews (in the future) the 100th reviewer will get a one shot as well. 200th will get a brief mention in the story (as a character!) and 300th etc will also get something great! Ideas for something to give them? And, if I ever ever get to 1000 (hey, I can dream) the story will be dedicated to the 1000th reviewer and I can give them something else they want, as long as it is in my power and not monetary. No shallow reviewers ;)**

**UPDATE (17/11/2008): The number of grammar mistakes in this chapter that I corrected made me cringe. From now on I double-check my stories before putting them up. How did you guys put up with me?  
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	4. Chapter Three: Journeys

**Disclaimer: You guessed it.**

**The chapter's pretty short - just a glimpse into Toph's life. **

**The song for this chapter is **Here With Me **by **Dido**, it can be found here - http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=y95-VipidR0 - just replace the DOT with . I would also advise you to pay close attention to the lyrics, they might give a hint to the rest of the story! They apply to Toph by the way, not Zuko.  
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**Chapter Three** - Journeys

_Our other protagonist, meanwhile, is on a quest of his own and meeting an old friend. Misguided? You decide._

"I'd recognize you from a mile away, Sparky," Toph says, with a hint of her usual humor. She looks exactly the same as she always has. Evidently time hasn't changed her too much. Only her hair is longer than it used to be, a small crack in her veneer revealing how little she cares about herself and her appearance and how she has changed.

She hadn't started out caring for how she looks but sometimes Zuko had seen her fiddling with her hair when she saw a certain person and revealing how she, too, shared some things with girls who she so disdains. She had not got along with Katara either until she realized Katara was a fierce warrior who could pull her own weight.

Zuko himself had realized how fiercely protective Katara was. Not just of Aang, but of everything she loved. Even of the way the 'Gaang', as Sokka had dubbed them, had lived. She had been reluctant to give that up as they prepared for their final battle, even though she had been keeping her distance from Zuko he had realized this. Katara had evidently decided that the best way to show Zuko that there was someone who was watching him in the group to make sure he didn't make one wrong move was ignoring him completely when he was in front of her but stalking him when he wasn't. He had had to accidentally send a burst of fire near where she was hiding while he was about to take his bath many times.

Even when he had realized that her anger towards him was somehow linked to her mother (he had gone to the trouble of finding out the story behind it from Sokka) she had not listened to him when he had tried to help her. When she saw him she had just run away and Aang had convinced him that Katara did not need to find her mother's killer. Forgiveness was the way to go, and if he could prove to Katara through his daily actions that he was worth forgiving she would probably do that, right? Wrong.

Zuko knows that Katara has never forgiven him for Ba Sing Se and what has happened in the battle has just made this worse. Eventually he decides to stop fighting for her forgiveness. He was too busy with his own duties and finding his mother and he had enough people who did believe him. Sokka has become one of his closest friends, and his occasional flashes of brilliance are almost as helpful as his sarcasm and love for meat are amusing. Even after the event, he and Suki have been the ones to pick up the pieces. While they have not been able to turn everything back to normal - not even their undemanding love for their family has this power - they have managed to restore Toph and Katara to some levels of normalcy. All of Zuko's emotions have been locked inside, only let out with his dearest. It is something he did not even tell Mai about but restricted to Iroh and Ursa.

Now Toph has returned to her Blind Bandit ways. By all outward appearances this seems perfectly normal. Toph had always been the rebellious kind and she certainly wasn't going to return to her family to just resume her 'ladylike' life with them. So it made the most sense to return to the earthbending ring, right? Wrong again. What the people did not realize and did not know was the changes that have been wrought in Toph through their journeys. She had felt the first pain of unrequited love (Sokka), had been exposed to the real world, made friends and learnt too many things to just go back to mindless fighting. Not that she wouldn't have fought. Zuko knows her too well for that. She would have probably devoted a considerable portion of her time in the ring. Still, she would have spent some time outside it too. Breaking down the walls (figuratively, but knowing her perhaps literally too) between the rich and the poor in Ba Sing Se, teaching new and hopeful pupils Earthbending and (perhaps) finally getting her chance with someone were what he had thought she would do.

Unfortunately, none of these were meant to be. Circumstances change things. And Zuko alone***** can see how broken she is inside. The idea would have seemed laughable before - Toph? The earthbending master? The strongest person he knows (it came with the earthbending, it was part of the element perhaps)? Broken? It seems like a bad pun******. But now it is true.

Still, she does a good job of hiding it. Outwardly she seems to have accepted everything and moved on. "And I know just what you want," she says. "But you're going to have to discuss it over a cup of tea. I think your uncle would disapprove if I met you without even a sip of tea."

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Toph's perfect arrangement, serving and drinking of the tea never ceases to amaze Zuko. They are now back at the place she calls a house (never a home) and she seems to enjoy waiting for him to ask the question that he both does and doesn't want to know the answer to. He does because he's worried about Katara, more because he knows Sokka and Suki are. He doesn't because it has been hard enough to handle that constant stream of hatred when she had been there and it has been hard to forget it even when she had gone out of his life (he had thought forever).

Finally after chit-chat about this and that, something which would once have frustrated Toph - "GET to the point already," she would have shouted - he manages to say what he has been trying to for a long time. "Where's Katara?" he asks.

"Sorry, but I have absolutely no idea about that. It was fun watching you try and work up the nerve to ask but we haven't been on the best of terms lately. You know how I think she just can't accept things...she should. Like we all have." Toph narrows her lips.

"She was never good at that, was she?" Zuko attempts humor and fails. "She never did trust me. I learnt when she said she never would, she actually meant it. But you have _no _idea?"

"I lied before," Toph says, with a touch of sarcasm. "I have heard that someone matching her description was recently sold at the slave market in Omashu before it was closed down. And knowing her state currently, she's probably still with them."

Zuko asks only one question - "Who?" - and after recieving his answer, he leaves immediately, leaving this new Toph behind for the time being.

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***(A/N - Secret reference to episode!)**

********(A/N - Is it?)**

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've received much less hits for the latest chapter. The reviews are more though, so I'm happy. They inspired updates. **

**I've been wondering,are the questions too hard? I've got no correct answers even with smart reviewers...so guessing who the person was who bought Katara is still open (you get another try even if you guessed before!) - obviously it wasn't Zuko. Hint: it's not a person who she knows too well. Reminder as to rewards: ****25 points = 1 oneshot for you!  
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**Please review! I've decided that if I get to 100 reviews (in the future) the 100th reviewer will get a one shot as well. 200th will get a brief mention in the story (as a character!) and 300th etc will also get something great! Ideas for something to give them? And, if I ever ever get to 1000 (hey, I can dream) the story will be dedicated to the 1000th reviewer and I can give them something else they want, as long as it is in my power and not monetary. No shallow reviewers ;)**

**I'd also like to clarify Zuko and Mai's relationship. As I said in Chapter One, they're great friends now, but they don't have a romantic relationship. I always thought Mai with her calm and reasoning would be a good friend (I also always thought of her name as Ma-ee and not May). **

**This update is short and very character driven. There will be action in this story but there will also be long portions showing thoughts and internal reflections to develop my characters better. Still, better that you have short updates than no updates!  
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**Also, I have no idea where Omashu is - if it's not near the coast then apologies! But imagine it is. It is in the Earth Kingdom - that I'm sure of.**

**UPDATE (17/11/2008) - Not too many mistakes in this chapter thankfully, it's restoring my confidence in my writing.  
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	5. Chapter Four: Meetings pt I

**Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender is owned by people who are not me. I do own this story though!**

**I don't know if this story is that good. And I'm not saying this for reviews, but I've read a lot of great stories lately and I'm beginning to wonder. Still, I update! The song for this chapter is **Better Than This** by **Keane** and can be found at http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=HmOlLvqtPgc - replace the DOT with . And the second song (since it's a long chapter) is **Nothing In My Way**, also by **Keane **which can be found at http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=y5l-GSDo72c (again replace the DOT with .)**

**The chapters just keep getting longer - I decided to end this one here although originally it was planned to go on until much later!  
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**Chapter Four** - Meetings (part one)

_Time to check back on our other character. She is still as unfortunate as ever, and seems reluctant to offer any help when it is offered to her...Why, you ask? You shall find out in good time._

Katara is looking better than she has for a long time. She has been sent to be washed, which she has accepted passively as a nervous maid scrubs at her. Once she would have blushed and refused to accept this, preferring instead to do this herself. Once. She has been dressed in the prettiest clothes that the temporary maid can find at such short notice. After all, her master hasn't planned on buying her. It was just that he had happened to be in the slave market and decided that revenge was a bargain at this price*****. And she has been sold just like that.

Shiori had been wrong. The brave little girl in the slave ship had been confident that Katara would be sold to a noble family that was kind to her. Instead, it has happened exactly as the guards have predicted. Only worse, since this person is not some nameless stranger but one who she has known and offended, albeit fleetingly.

Still Katara finds it hard to draw up even a drop of emotion. The maid who is dressing her in blue ("It's only fitting, after all," the man had said) has trembled and appeared remorseful yet terrified the entire time. Katara doesn't even want to know what her master has threatened her with to get her here to help. He doesn't appear confident in Katara's ability to make herself look beautiful. So she has been dressed up in a blue gown and her hair has been done up in some latest fashion.

Her master. How easily the words roll off her lips and even in her mind. Has she become that submissive? It is impossible for her to make herself feel scared or even apprehensive about what she knows is to come. She is no longer a child. She knows what men want from women, especially those they buy. Although she is no woman. Even if she tries to scare herself, if the (tiny) reasonable part of her brain tries to convince her to escape by drawing up graphic pictures of what will happen, she simply doesn't care enough to make the effort to get off yet another ship.

She knows that the worst has already happened. Whatever happens now is just the Fates' idea of a cruel joke. If she had been dressing up for Aang, would things have been different? She wonders. She loves Aang but she doesn't have the time to think about exactly what kind of love it is.

The maid appeared to be drawing things out, trying to spare Katara for as long as she could. She didn't know the truth. "I'm sorry, dear," she whispered. "I'll try to get some help later, but for now I have to take care of my family." Katara didn't bother to respond other than to smile slightly at the woman.

The woman recoils slightly and begins mumbling to herself - "Empty eyes, so empty...poor thing. Should I take her now? But...I can't, my family...What would they say if they heard I left her behind?" - seemingly not realizing Katara can hear everything. Katara decides to put her out of her dilemma.

"I'm fine," she says. "I can take care of myself." The woman appears unconvinced and continues to try and convince Katara to go with her. Finally Katara bends some of the bath water to prove to the woman that she truly will be all right. The woman is convinced. Murmuring softly to herself once more, she slips a flask of water whose size belies the large amounts of water it can hold into a place in Katara's gown where her master will not be able to find it...at least not for a while.

A member of her master's crew interrupts them by walking into the room without knocking. "Hey, he's getting impatient," he says. "It's been hours. Aren't you done yet?"

The maid's manner changes abruptly. She adopts a woman-of-the-world manner that makes Katara want to laugh and says to the man in what she thinks is a jaded voice, "It takes a long time to get _this_ thing looking good. You know what it's like."

Fortunately the man is not too bright and appears impressed by her logic. "It's just that the captain's waiting..." he says in what might have been an apologetic manner. "And when he gets angry we get the blame." Hiromi (for the woman had confided that this was her name) replies soothingly, "Don't worry. I'll have her looking even better in no time. Give me another fifteen minutes."

The man looks Katara up and down in a way that sends a shiver up her spine that all her imaginings cannot. "She looks fine to me," he winks as he leaves the room. Hiromi shudders deeply the moment he is out. Katara doesn't know if it's in relief or fear. Hiromi makes a last few adjustments to Katara's hair gently but still painfully, and then spins Katara around to face her.

"I've waited as long as I could," she says in a tone of voice that shows her reluctance to send Katara into what she thinks is a den of wolves. "I know you seem capable of defending yourself. But I'll try and get help. There's not many willing to stand up to them. They're the last of their kind - the Earth King wiped out the rest. And..." Here she seems unsure and finally decides to leave it there.

Katara remains unmoved. She isn't going to fight anything. She knows what you got from fighting and it is just pain that she doesn't have the capability to deal with. She doesn't need more of that. She already has more than her fair share. Maybe this was what the maid has seen in her face and seems to be about to tell her. She has obviously dismissed it - who wouldn't want to fight what will happen?

She moves out of the room and through the passage out towards the door where she knows her master is awaiting her. She pushes it open to find it different from what she has expected, in a good way. Instead of the whole crew, it is just the man who has bought her. Instead of just a bed in the room there is also a dining table laid with food and a desk which looks unused. Apparently they will eat and talk first. Although he will probably do much of the talking. She doesn't talk much any more.

"Hello, little waterbending girl," he remarks. "It's been too long since we met." He adopts a mockingly polite manner. "It must have been years," he continues. "And the last time we met you stole that waterbending scroll from me. And what happened to your little friends? Even us pirates hear something about the goings on on land."

At this Katara feels something that she hasn't for a long time. Anger. She has felt denial, sadness and despair but this white-hot rage is something she has not experienced. How dare _he _mention their names?

The captain apparently notices the anger in her eyes but is amused by it. "There's the girl I remember," he smirks. "Not so young any more. But don't worry. The door's locked so no one can get in...or out. And there's not enough water here for you to do anything." The room seems to constrict in on Katara and her breaths suddenly begin to get shorter and she begins to feel another emotion not felt for long - fear. She begins to feel as though she has gotten herself into a situation she can't control. Although she didn't consciously choose to get herself into the situation, it is more like just letting things happen.

There is no way out. She wishes she had escaped when Hiromi had asked her to. She could even have gone with Shiori, although Shiori's last words to her had convinced her not to. The captain grows impatient with Katara's continued silence.

"Sit," he growls, pulls her roughly by her wrist to the table and pushes her into one of the chairs. "Eat."

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Zuko has been able to find his way to the dock through some guidance from strangers. He has been unable to find anything about Katara and it looks like he is in for a long night of searching every ship on the dock. It will probably continue far into the next day, and he doesn't know what could be happening to Katara at the time. Much as she dislikes him, he will not wish _that_ on anyone.

He has stuck to his Blue Spirit disguise (without the mask, since this is too recognizable now). His scar has been blended into his skin using some sort of powder Mai has given him for exactly this purpose. It is only visible in bright light now. The night time is perfect for his mission for this reason. He has decided not to use his 'authority' as Fire Lord. It will take too long to search the ships that way. Besides, this is the Earth Kingdom.

He knows as he wastes time searching for the pirates goodness-knows-what is happening to Katara. This frustrates him greatly and he increases his speed to what is beyond humanly possible. He has some sort of advantage in that he knows that if he even saw one of the pirates he will recognize them.

He doesn't trust them with Katara at all. They have a grudge against her after all. They hate him too, and have tried to kill him once - although on Zhao's orders, they still seemed perfectly happy to do this and even glad after the trick he pulled on them during the fiasco where he ended up with Katara's mother's necklace - but Zuko has forgotten all about this in his overwhelming worry for Katara.

He continues his work, praying to Agni, Tui, La and Yue for help. He thinks he needs the help of all the Spirits he can use, even if some of them are Water Spirits. He's learned to respect different cultures.

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Katara has chewed every bite of her meal forty times, and although her meal has obviously extended far beyond the captain's she wonders that he doesn't interrupt her. This is probably his idea of chivalry.

"Are we done yet?" asks the captain in what he evidently believes is a winning manner. He bends over her chair and she shrinks back imperceptibly. He laughs and sends a whiff of sake-laden breath at her. Up close she can see his teary eyes and greasy skin, probably from the immense amounts of alcohol he has taken in while waiting for Katara to finish her meal. She can see the stubble on his face.

He can see something in her eyes - which are evidently as easy to read as ever - that makes him hesitate for a long moment and then push a goblet roughly at her. "Drink this," he growls, all evidence of his charm gone. "I don't want you fighting me the entire time." Katara reluctantly swallows the tasteless liquid and feels nothing happen for a few moments. The captain appears to be waiting expectantly.

She feels nervous at his intense gaze and the fact that nothing is happening. Perhaps it is time to move away. To her sudden horror, she discovered she can't move at all. The captain notices her eyes widening. "It's funny what you discover when you travel," he says. "Somewhere in the Fire Nation they have this drug which you only get from flowers which bloom every ten years. When drunk, they paralyze the person completely. Only from the skin though. Everything inside will work just fine. And all your involuntary reactions will continue. You can feel everything..." Here he runs his hand up Katara's arm suggestively and she shivers - internally of course since she no longer controls her body.

She is trapped good and proper. She prays to all the spirits she knows - not for deliverance, because she feels she deserves this - but for the ability not to remember what she knows will happen here. She is already scarred enough. She has become very good at suppressing unpleasant memories but she fears this will take a while, longer than usual, to get rid of. She tries to scream but finds unpleasantly that she is unable to. It is a terrifying feeling, having no voice at all.

The captain leans over her once more and begins to move in and Katara wishes she has the luxury of closing her eyes. Luckily the captain doesn't move towards her lips as she expects but moves towards her ear. Katara feels a wet feeling near her left ear and again tries to close her eyes or move away, but she is frozen. She sits there with seemingly no expression on her face, but her eyes tell the real story as usual.

Suddenly, the captain jumps up with an unfathomable expression on his face. He runs to the door and flings it open. Zuko runs through and collides with him, with both of them falling to the floor. Of all people Katara expects to see, this is the last. Isn't he busy with his Fire Lord duties? As the war has finished, Katara had found less and less reasons to distrust Zuko until _it _happened. Now she thinks that he had simply joined them in order to become Fire Lord because he knows his father was going to lose. Hey, it was possible. What has he done to disprove that? They could have won without him. _She _has defeated Azula. Still, there are things she can't explain. Like how he has taken lightning for her, even despite what he has done after that. How he has come for her now.

Both of them got up, but Zuko is a beat quicker and thus gains the advantage. The pirates probably interpret the sounds as something else, fortunately enough as they are not interrupted. Apparently Zuko has got on the ship without being noticed, which means there are no interruptions by the pirates (their master has threatened them with death if there are any) and gives Zuko help.

Soon enough, the captain lies tied to the bed. Katara might have been amused by the irony. Immediately Zuko runs to Katara and speaks to her in a low, pleading voice, "Look, I know you've never really believed me about helping you. But surely you see getting out of here is the best thing you can do! Come on!"

She doesn't move. She can't. "Katara!" he shakes her gently. Moving towards the captain, he suddenly becomes very menacing, and Zuko growls, "What did you do to her?" He closes the door to the room, locks it and then produces a flame and points it towards a part of the captain that will ensure that the captain will be out of 'circulation' for a long time. His anger appears to be growing as time passes and a few flames move towards the captain, inspiring him to speak hurriedly.

"It's lantaris!" he spits out, his words slipping over one other. Zuko curses under his breath, evidently recognizing the name, as a line appears between his brows. Then he bends down to where Katara is sitting so that his face is level with hers. "Look Katara, you may not understand much of what goes on in the next few hours," here Katara is offended, "but I need you to trust me."

At this, he blasts a hole in the side of the ship, picks up Katara gently, adjusts her robe so that her white bindings are no longer showing (thankfully), and jumps out of the hole he has created into a waiting boat below. He takes the brunt of the fall and Katara lands gently on top of him. However, it doesn't take any great intellect to deduce that they are still being or will soon be followed.

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***(A/N - My favorite line in the story so far!)**

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Does anyone wish to make fan art for the gown or any part of the story? 5 points for it! More hints about what happened to Aang, guess if you want to, but it's not what you expect. **

**Ardala91 gets a point for the name of 'the child' - go check out her fics **Never Ending Fates** and **Prince Zuko One Shots** - sad but worth a read, I liked them even if I didn't support some of the pairings! She also suggested another name which I ended up using for the maid. Do you think she deserves another point? **

**Can anyone guess what was the last thing Shiori said to Katara last chapter? A point for the answer! **

**Shout out to AvatarLover1 - a loyal and helpful reviewer. :) There were much less reviews for the last chapter at first...I was worried! **

**Sorry about all the OC's, but they don't play key roles! **

**Was this chapter cliched? Send me your thoughts in a review! **

**BTW, Katara in the movie is SO light-skinned. So is Sokka. Am I the only one disappointed by the white-ness of the cast of a movie based on a show that was made unique and prided itself on it's Asian influences? **

**The symbolism in this chapter made me SQUEEE. Can anyone guess it? If you get it right I might just give you a point. ;)**

**Reminder about points and things - ****25 points = 1 oneshot for you!  
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**Please review! I've decided that if I get to 100 reviews (in the future) the 100th reviewer will get a one shot as well. 200th will get a brief mention in the story (as a character!) and 300th etc will also get something great! Ideas for something to give them? And, if I ever ever get to 1000 (hey, I can dream) the story will be dedicated to the 1000th reviewer and I can give them something else they want, as long as it is in my power and not monetary. No shallow reviewers ;)**

**VOTE on the poll in my profile and look at my other story, if you wish. :)**

**UPDATE (17/11/2008) - Not too many errors this chapter, which made me happy!  
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	6. Chapter Five: Meetings pt II

**Okay, this chapter is darker than usual. Don't kill me for the ending, although I can't promise things will get better soon. If Katara is OOC it's because of the event that happened to her.**

**Disclaimer: Avatar is the property of someone whose name escapes me right now, but it isn't mine.**

**The song for this chapter, which is shorter than the last few and will only get one song, is - **Waiting **by **City and Color**. It can be found here - http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=tzI-lRtxx74 - just replace the DOT with .**

**Also, if I don't get at least ten reviews for this chapter, I won't post the next chapter before the New Year. Explanation at end of story.**

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**Chapter Five** - Meetings (part two)

_Our characters have met, and seemingly escaped from danger. Or have they? And why won't they trust each other?_

BlueBLUEblueblueblueblue. Katara is surrounded by blue. For some reason this seems to have a negative effect on her, unlike the calming influence it normally is. There is water everywhere. What if she drowns? She can feel the boat curving and tilting as waves lap against it - it's about to tip over! She lets off a wordless scream inside her head as the drug still hasn't worn off. Panic begins to rise within her like a bubble. She can't let it out...OUToutOUT. HELP! HELPHELPHELP.

Tears begin to stream down in a river. She doesn't know what she is crying about - but she wants to get out of there. She needs to get out of there. Something is very wrong - this isn't her at all! In some remote part of her, Katara can feel that letting out all her emotions is somehow therapeutic, but right now all she can focus on is the wordless crying. She feels like she is choking inside. She can't let out the sobs that are building up. The tears continue to pour out but she wants to sob and scream, which she isn't allowed to do by the drug, and simply tears aren't enough.

She isn't crying about the encounter with the captain - it has shaken her but not as much as other things she has gone through. She is crying about other, worse things. She cries about Aang and Toph and even Azula. She cries about the panic she feels, surrounded by this endless blue.

"Agni!" Zuko lets out a low curse as he sees Katara slumped on the other side of the boat. He glances conflictedly at the oars, knowing they need all the time they can get, but decides to go over to Katara. He knows why this was happening. Slowly, he walks towards her, as one would with a frightened rabbit-puppy*****. She looks up and snuffles softly, appearing terrified. She has apparently regained some control over her limbs, amazingly enough. The captain has not realized that a waterbender should be given a larger dose of the drug, fortunately enough.

"Hey, hey Katara," he whispers softly. "It's okay." He moves slowly towards her, trying to minimize the rocking of the boat which seems to increase her panic. "Katara! Look, I know this isn't you. You would never let this happen to you. Aang wouldn't want this to happen to you. You have to fight back!"

At this she slightly regains her composure, although the tears continue. Zuko continues to make his way over. "Look, I haven't done one thing to prove that I'm not part of your Gaang. Why can't you just believe me? Like the others did? I didn't do it to Aang." Despite himself, his voice cracked here.

By this time Zuko has made his way over to Katara. He has left the oars on the other side of the boat, which balance it out. Gently he sits down next to her and pulls her into his arms. Katara leans into his comforting warmth and he rubs her back softly. His mother has always told him that physical contact is the best way to comfort someone.

It appears to be working. Slowly Katara's sobs - for they have extended into sobs as she has regained control over her face, or perhaps they are involuntary - subside and physical control returns to her. She raises her tear-tracked face to Zuko and whispers, "Thanks" just loud enough for him to hear. And Zuko doesn't know why this makes him feel so happy and relieved inside.

Maybe because he thinks this may finally be forgiveness. It isn't.****  
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But it is enough for now.

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They make their way onto the dock, leaning on each other for support. There is a flash of green and Zuko senses that there is something wrong. He looks around the crowded area, even at this time of night there are many people there, but sees no one he knows. He reluctantly makes his way on. Katara needs him after all.

He leads her to the inn he has gotten a place in before he went out to the ships, he has suspected he would need it. He has two rooms of course, he knows how people talk. The inn is a far bit off, but it is the closest one he can find which isn't frequented by call girls and their customers.

They're making their way there when Zuko realizes they aren't alone any more. He looks around and realizes they're in a deserted alley. How cliched.

And then, they're surrounded. Of course there's the option of just giving Katara up but he can't take that. He knows Sokka trusts him and somehow that helps him as he begins to fight. He knows Katara is in no condition to do so and it doesn't surprise him to just see her standing there but he has hoped she would show a little resistance.

Clearly Katara has been changed like Toph. The pirates are not even bothering to pay her any attention - after a few glances at her they have come to the conclusion that she is no threat - with the consqeuence that all their efforts are now focused on Zuko. Even with his superior firebending skills, it is obvious that he doesn't stand a chance.

Within minutes, three pirates firmly hold his arms behind his back. He can't bend fire, because then he'll burn his own arms. Despite his struggles, he does not appear to be let go. The pirate captain walks up to him and for a minute he thinks that he will make some speech about how this is finally death for him or something. Zuko fights with the only weapon he has left. "Katara!" he yells. She starts and the pirates move closer to her. She backs away. "Come _on!_ It's full moon! I know you have it in you somewhere to fight. You can't possibly want to go back to that. Look, the drug he gave you might also exaggerate your emotions but it's worn off. You can't be that scared."

Katara sees what Zuko does not. He could be killed any moment. The captain can see her thoughts. A cold rush of panic overwhelms her and she slightly nods to the captain and stops backing away from the men, allowing herself to be captured. Zuko groans in disappointment and begins fighting harder.

Katara sees something and her yell somehow makes all the men pause. It is probably the unexpectedness of it. "Zuko, I think you should just give up," she says in an annoyed tone. She can't muster up anger. "If this is some elaborate attempt to make me trust you, it's not working. We both know that's not going to happen after what you did." Ignoring the coarse remarks from the pirate about what exactly Zuko has done, Katara continues. "So I think you should just leave me alone."

He stares at her with enough hurt in his eyes to make her cringe inwardly. But she remains resolute except a slight twitch when a particularly small pirate develops a blow to Zuko's head which makes him collapse forwards and looks suspiciously like one of Ty Lee's techniques.

"How long did you send him out for?" the captain questions. When the pirate answers that Zuko is not waking up for at least a few weeks, Katara realizes she is now truly alone and there is no hope for a rescue from the nightmare she has once again plunged herself into.

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***(A/N - How cute would those be?)**

****(A/N - I just had to ruin the fluff, didn't I?)**

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is kind of crack like at first but all is explained - it's Katara's reaction to that fancy drug! I got the first real hint of Z/K in there too!  
Do you like the new style/ tense/ grammar? I did some major rewriting! **

_What The World Would Pay_** - READ! Trust me, I can tell it's going to be epic :) **

**I saw Twilight today (late, I know). I loved the book at first but then it got more cheesy as I read it (no offense to superfans) and I actually loved the movie. Not because it was super intense and romantic (like you could tell it was intended to be) but because it was super funny, generally unintentionally. Who else loved Mike's sexy dance? The humans deserve more love. And Jacob should be the same next film! And maybe he could play Sokka instead of Jasper doing it. Although, you know, Jasper's pretty cool too! :)**

**Sorry about the not-posting-the-next-chapter-till-reviews thing. It's just that I ask a lot of questions each time and only a few people answer them. I love my loyal reviewers, but I get about 50 hits each chapter (conservative estimate) and I think it's not asking for too much to ask for more reviews. I was planning for this to be the last chapter since I think this is a good cliffhanger to keep you hanging until 2009, but I decided to give my reviewers a chance to make me change my mind!**

**Yes, a point each for correct answers to questions like 'Why is Katara not fighting back?', 'What did she see which made her talk to Zuko like that?', 'Why did Katara go back with the men?'. 25 points = 1 oneshot for you, written according to your specifications! Same for the 100th review, which I am nowhere near right now...**

**PS - MY STORY FINALLY HIT 10,000 WORDS! Longest story ever for me! In fact it's over 11,600 words with this chapter. :)  
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	7. Chapter Six: Awakenings

**Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, I wouldn't be sitting here writing fanfictions.**

**The song for this chapter is **I Need To Wake Up **by **Melissa Etheridge**. It can be found here - if you replace the DOT with . http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=kKJlS5GJMg8**

**On another note, I have my first fanart! Thanks so much to Twilight-Sheikah at deviantart for amazing work which you can check out here - don't forget to replace DOT with . ! http://twilight-sheikahDOTdeviantartDOTcom/art/Things-we-lost-in-the-fire-109741592 Who else loves Ninja Zuko? 5 points! Any more fanart? ;)  
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**Chapter Six** - Awakenings

Katara is roughly dragged back to the captain's room. There is none of his attempted charm this time. He is obviously annoyed by Katara's behavior. Although she didn't consciously escape. Still, none of this seems to have put him off his original plan for revenge. She feels thankful to be in the enclosed space again somehow. All the openness of the dock and the sea has been scaring her. She _almost_ feels thankful to be back in the enclosed space. The captain pushes another glass of the liquid in front of her, smirking slightly and inclining his head towards her in a condescending gesture. "You're having a double dose this time," he says. "I don't care if you can't move ever again, I'm not having you escape again." Katara doesn't bother to protest that she had been carried out, has had no say in the proceedings and doesn't care anyway.

He seems to regain some of his composure, flicks his tongue over his lips lightly and begins. "You sure were anxious that we don't kill your friend," he smirks.

"He's not my friend," Katara can't help blurting out with a toss of her head. Somehow, she instantly feels guilty for some reason that she won't put her finger upon. This just causes the captain's smile to become wider, revealing a few more teeth in the process that shine gold. "You sure seemed to be anxious to come back when Sung pulled that knife on him. You shouldn't have worried though," he laughs. "We would never have killed the Fire Lord and gotten the Fire Nation after us. Too bad all that effort of yours to get captured is for nothing."

Katara would normally refuse to be provoked but this man has touched upon the subject which most easily provokes her. A sudden flash and she realizes that this is also the subject that makes her most like the girl she used to be.

"Just because I don't want to see you bloodthirsty pirates try and murder someone doesn't mean that I am friends with that person," she spits self-righteously. "And I didn't make _any _effort. I don't need to." The captain seems to enjoy her conversation and pulls up a chair opposite hers in a manner that reminds her of the many discussions she once had with Toph and later Suki about everything from cute boys (Jet, Haru before facial hair) to the best weapons to use in a fight when cornered (Toph thought earth, Suki went with fans).

"Tell me," he says in a mock-confiding tone. "Do you practice that self-righteous voice of yours in front of your looking glass? If you even look at one." His tone seems to imply that from the looks of her she doesn't. She can't tell whether it means that she doesn't need to or whether she should. "And while we're at it," he continues. "Why did you steal the waterbending scroll anyway?" His tone changes for the worse as he recalls the past wrongs she has inflicted on him. At the moment, she considers these things the most valuable actions she has ever undertaken. "You know, I lost a lot of money from losing that. We have a wealthy client in the Fire Nation who pays for those things. Even your Avatar with all the gold I'm sure he had was too cheap to pay for it. He deserved everything he got."

Apparently conversation time is over from the darkening of his tone. The captain grows surly and remains still for a few moments without even trying to provoke her. Although Katara doesn't notice it, the drink he has given her is rocking more than the usual movement of the boat, a few drops threaten to spill over. She is thinking about everything he has said, her heart begins to pound at a rate that makes her feel as though she could injure herself from the effort. The captain has insulted her so many times, which she thought she had grown indifferent to after the incident but he has touched upon a sore topic, and as to what he had said about Aang...Her heart rate seems to echo through the room, she wants to choke, suddenly finds it difficult to breathe.

A small amount of the drink splashes onto the table. The captain glances at it and ignores it, attributing it to the increasingly violent rocking of the ship, but is reminded of something else. He pushes the drink slightly towards her again, more impatiently this time and commands her to drink it. Recieving no response from her, his expression becomes exceedingly angry before he controls it and it drops back into the smiling, sinister mask he has perfected. He picks up the goblet himself - for a confused second she thinks he will drink it but then he is pushing it towards her lips that for once are not compliant and refuse to open.

Not discouraged, he tries again. When he again forces the goblet towards her, the sharp glass edge cuts her mouth above her lip and she gasps in pain, allowing some of the drink to slip in. She can feel something thick and cloying trickling down her throat and her body suddenly feels numb and sluggish, refusing to respond to her commands. Her lip stings and suddenly burns as some of the liquid spills on to it.

In a flash the moment seems to freeze and a flash of blinding light transforms her surroundings into an endless space of white light. There are no shadows. Far away, she sees a dot of some other color against the light, confusedly she tries to move towards it. In an instant she is there, and she wishes she was not. She sees Aang exactly the way she saw him last, the way she wishes she never had to see him again. He is battered and bruised, looking more childlike than ever. His eyes are closed, but she feels as though he knows what is happening, can feel all the pain. Slowly, all the white disappears until the only white is his glowing tattoos. Soon, even that is gone. She finds herself back in the room, the captain pushing the drink towards her again, with more force this time. He deliberately aims for the cut on her lip. More of the drink splashes into it, the burning is greater this time. Some of the drink goes in, she feels more sluggish.

She remembers Aang's face. She is _not_ doing justice to Aang and the sacrifices he made for them if she just accepts everything bad that happens. He never had, had encouraged her not to. Strangely enough, it is the least likely person who has reminded her of this. Zuko has helped her. She doesn't have to stop grieving, but she doesn't have to do things that would have made him sad if he had seen it. She also thinks of Sokka and Suki, who would probably come to the ship that moment, baby or no baby, if they knew what was happening. They would all be disappointed in her for just accepting everything.

And at the thought of that disappointment, the drink suddenly lifts and whips the captain across the face before he has the chance to force more of this liquid down her throat despite the fact that Katara stays perfectly still. She cannot stand that loss of control and the thought that what she is doing will cause further pain to her family any more and somehow her body understands this.

"So, the waterbenders like it rough," laughs the pirate nastily, although a slight twitch of his eye gives away his anger. "Who knew? The last one was fine with it." Before Katara can think of what this could mean, he gets up quickly and draws his sword, feeling as though he has the advantage in a room with no windows and a limited amount of water. Katara stands up, swaying slightly from the amount of the drink which she has had. Suddenly she remembers the water Hiromi gave her which survived the earlier antics. She draws it out and the simple action ensures that she suddenly feels like herself again. Not the soulless body that she has been for so long, but _Katara_, who wouldn't even be here.

It's only a flash, but the familiar feeling of water surrounding her hands brings back a hundred good memories. The good memories are tinged with loss and pain but allowing herself to think of them is a thousand times more comforting than the hours of 'therapy' that Sokka and Suki made her go through with some crazy old Air Nomad. She feels like she can defeat all the pirates, even without any water. She forms the water into familiar shapes - whips, healing gloves, even little stars.

A few flicks and the captain is frozen to the wall, with special pressure on an area she can guarantee he won't be using for a long time. As she ventures out, the rest of the pirates are obviously torn between trying to keep the ship steady (for they have set sail) through the rocking, which is more violent then ever, and the noise that the captain made before Katara gagged him.

She manages to reach the deck with minimal loss of water, and it is there, surrounded by the ocean on a full moon, that all the pirates are soon lying prone and helpless as she had been. It's ironic that she has captured the pirates, but she doesn't care about that. At the thought of what she has just done and everything she has escaped, a feeling of lightness envelops her, and the unexpectedness of this almost causes her to feel as though she might float towards the sky. Katara feels better than she has for a long time, and she has her enemies to thank for this, even Zuko.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: ****I wanted to increase the conversation between the pirate captain and Katara but they don't have that much to talk about. Also whoever can think of a new, unique title for this story will get 3 points and my eternal gratitude!**

**A reminder on how the points stand: 1 point for ell25, 2 for Ardala91, 5 to Twilight-Sheikah, 2 to MorganaMakaber (who is an amazing, thoughtful and detailed reviewer). Here is my points scheme. ****25 points = 1 oneshot for you! And for reviews, ****I've decided that if I get to 100 reviews (in the future) the 100th reviewer will get a one shot as well. 200th will get a brief mention in the story (as a character!) and 300th etc will also get something great! Ideas for something to give them? And, if I ever ever get to 1000 (hey, I can dream) the story will be dedicated to the 1000th reviewer and I can give them something else they want, as long as it is in my power and not monetary. No shallow reviewers ;)**

**Read: Fifty Ways To Say I Love You by SpaceRoses. It's here - .net/s/4503311/1/%3Cb%3EFifty%3C_b%3E_%3Cb%3EWays%3C_b%3E_to_%3Cb%3ESay%3C_b%3E_I_%3Cb%3ELove%3C_b%3E_%3Cb%3EYou%3C_b%3E  
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**FAQ's: **

**Why didn't the pirate just give Katara Chi Blocker?  
**He thought it wasn't necessary since she couldn't move.

** How come Katara didn't use her water to escape before? Why?  
**She didn't want to is the first answer, and I can't tell you the answer to the second yet!

** Why didn't the Ty Lee like pirate knock Katara out?  
**He didn't need to, she was compliant because she saw Zuko being threatened.

** Who is the client in the Fire Nation (easy one) the captain talks about?  
**Ah, you tell me that! 1 point for correct answer!


	8. Chapter Seven: Worries

**Disclaimer: I no own, man!**

**The song for this chapter is **Shadows **by **Nidji**, and can be found here, if you replace the DOT with . http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=aKrMIKQVwEs&feature=related Read and review!  
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**Chapter Seven** - Worries

Katara is back on shore, soaked and tired with the effort of bending herself miles across water. She finds Zuko on the same spot that she left him - has it really only been that little time? He is surrounded by curious bystanders, none of whom look too friendly. From the looks of his robes, he has already been checked for valuables. Some substance on Zuko's face has prevented him from being recognized yet, but the circle of people around him is slowly pressing closer. It is only a matter of time.

She assesses the situation with a practiced yet detached eye, decides there are too many people for her to take on. The ebb of anger that had pushed away the emptiness inside her, but it has faded, all that is left is tiredness and an unwillingness to fight again so soon. Zuko is still unconscious, will be in no state to help when he wakes up, which should be soon. She didn't bloodbend the pirate's hand for nothing.

For a moment she is tempted to leave him in place. Nothing that could happen to him could be that bad...it takes her a while to remember what he's done for her. With a sigh, she breaks into a run, pushes past the crowd, jumping onto the floor next to Zuko and bending down over him with a concerned face. Pushing aside the unwillingness, she places a hand on each side of his face, puts her face close to hers.

"Are you all right...Lee?" she asks, her voice apparently brimming with concern. Her slight hesitation in using his name is unnoticed by the crowd and she thanks Yue. "I must take him back to our inn at once!" she says. A voice from the crowd calls out the suggestion that he is dead and her breath catches before her mind notices the steady rise and fall of his chest. The tip of the scar on his chest can be seen - another recognizable symbol - and she places a hand on his chest, subtly tugging up his robes. These are the Earth Kingdom docks after all, there are many who resent the Fire Nation. Her other hand goes under his head, she freezes for a moment and then begins to heave as the difficult task of trying to lift him up begins. No one moves to help her.

At this movement, there is a murmur of discontent from the crowd. They wake from their stupor. Their prize cannot escape so easily. A man steps to the front, "Hey! How do we know he's actually your friend?" and Katara bites back her exasperation. She manages to lift Zuko up till he is leaning heavily on her, stumbling with the weight.

The strain of producing emotion threatens to be too much for her, her frustration is about to make her crack and attack them despite the consequences, but suddenly Zuko's eyes open slightly. Blearily he looks around. "'Atarr," he slurs, trying to get his feet to stand underneath him. "Nosminagowly." She doesn't even bother to wonder about what he just said, instead trying to move forward now that he has some kind of balance. He smiles blearily at the crowd. Is he...trying to wave? Katara rushes on, she's seen him wave the same way a few times when standing on the Public Viewing Area of his palace. He inevitably follows this with some kind of fake-inspirational speech, she thinks bitterly. And the people just lap it up.

Sure enough, Zuko begins. "Thank you, my people for coming today to support Mai and I..."

"Hahahahaha," Katara laughs loudly, afraid the nervousness underneath the laugh might be visible. "Poor Lee," she says to the people who will not stop following her. "The last Sabertooth Moose Lion bite really got him." The throng backs away slightly.

Zuko cocks his head to the side, mumbling "Mushi Junior Jasmine," before subsiding. By this time they have passed the mass of people. "Sure, _now _you're quiet," she mutters.

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With a start that he regrets once his headache strikes, Zuko wakes, sitting up in bed instantly and evaluating the room for potential threats. He recognizes the room as one of those in the inn he had reserved but remains on alert, unsure of why he was brought here and by whom. He is no longer wearing his black coat, instead he is wearing the vest he wore underneath the robe. His black pants are hidden underneath the red sheet he is covered by.

"Katara!" The window outside shows that Risu has made his way across the sky and it is evening. How many days have passed he does not know, yet he knows by now it is too late for Katara. The...person he had rescued the first time would not have bothered to rescue herself, the only real glimpse he caught of the Katara he remembered was when she cried on the boat. And that was under the influence of a drug.

His breath catches as he raises his knees and buries his face in them, surrounding it with his arms. He has failed Sokka and Suki. His hands clench the red bedsheet and he finds it difficult to breathe. The door begins to open and he instantly moves to stand behind it, freezing as he recognizes the back that walks in. She turns around in confusion to search the room on finding the bed empty and stops in her tracks as she sees him. Both stand still at the unexpected meeting.

Zuko dimly notices that she has changed out of the blue dress the captain had, and is _somehow_ miraculously back in her traditional water tribe clothing. He recognizes this Katara, she _almost_ looks like the one he used to know, except for the lack of emotion on her face. The other Katara constantly had some feeling or the other playing across her features.

She isn't inclined to talk, and he confusedly puts together the pieces. She must have saved him somehow, which means that nothing happened to her, and he didn't fail Sokka, and she (possibly) doesn't hate him as much as she could (should?). A small smile threatens to come out, but her frosty face stops it in it's tracks. He only asks one thing, "Why?"

"You saved my life twice," she says awkwardly, looking at a spot on the wall above his head. "I owe you something." She leaves the room abruptly, leaving Zuko wondering when the second time was that he helped her.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTES: If anyone wants to do fanart I'd love the scene where Katara's hand is under Zuko's head or where she's supporting his weight or when Zuko's despairing in his bed thinking of what (would) have happened to Katara or when K and Z stare at each other when she first enters the room. So...pretty much every scene ;)  
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**Risu - the word I used for sun is a blending of the Chinese character and the Indian word for sun.  
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**No questions this chapter. And I know I'm a coward for skipping the action scenes! New fanart (by Moony92), go look at my profile for the link - my friend wondering-wandering on deviantart 3 has been getting me more readers and more fanart. According to her she's been harassing people with requests! Thanks so much, and sorry to bother anyone. Hope you like the story. New drabbles from me can be found from my profile - I jumped on the trend :)**


	9. Chapter Eight: Recovery: partial

**Disclaimer: From now on, there may not be one every chapter, but I DON'T own it, okay? Thanks. Don't sue.**

**The songs for this chapter are **My Immortal **and **Bring Me To Life **by **Evanescence**, listen to both! They can be found here if the DOT is replaced by . **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=idd_92ajjwY&feature=channel **and **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=K3ORuIBjjBU&feature=channel **Listen to BOTH!**

**This chapter is dedicated to ~wondering-wandering at deviantart, where I now also have an account. Look at my profile for details and read the author's notes at the end as well!

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**Chapter Eight** - Recovery (partial)

It is a night of muffled sighs, averted glances and muttered words. Zuko looks up from his food, meets Katara's eyes and looks down again, wondering once more why Katara has brought dinner to his room. It is true that he is still slightly weak and it will not do for him to be recognized, yet he expects her to go to her own room and eat there. She has never shown any inclination to spend time with him, and from what he remembers of the previous night (which is not much) she has already repaid the life debt she owed him. Do they even have such customs in the water tribes?

She has not said a word to him throughout the course of the evening. All she does is stare into the distance. Her plate lies untouched in front of her, full of food. Perhaps she feels obligated to him to spend time with him. The worst part is that she doesn't even display that anger with him that she did at the Western Air Temple. The incident during the comet seems to have taken that anger away and turned it into something worse. She seemed to have forgiven him after he took Azula's lightning for her, and she healed him. But after that...when they made their way to the palace, and what happened to Aang there seems to have affected her powerfully.

Was she in love with Aang? Zuko wonders. She never displayed anything above her normal affection to others to him, yet it was obvious from the monk's blushes and a whispered confidence to Zuko one day during training the Dragon Dance that Aang certainly had had strong feelings for Katara. Zuko had found the monk's obvious infatuation sweet (but you would have to torture him to make him admit it) and had always expected that Aang and Katara would have some kind of relationship after the comet, when Aang had defeated Ozai. It was stupid, really how he had always assumed somewhere in his mind that Aang would defeat Ozai, that everything would be okay. Real life teaches you a lot of things.

He tries to snap himself out of his train of thought. He's been along this path many times and knows that it brings him nothing but sadness. Any more of that and he'll be as depressed as...Katara. He suddenly realizes that Katara is truly seriously depressed. This is not the kind of sadness that passes, but rather the kind that he has seen so often in the Fire Nation. The kind that is hidden behind doors, and that people give up on. The kind where the people who have it are left with no future but quack treatments and their own sorrows.

They had all laughed (although he had done it secretly for fear of her) at her portrayal in the awful Ember Island play. She had vehemently denied that she depended on hope as much as the play showed her as doing. Yet everyone else knew it to be true. And when her hope was taken away this was her reaction. Aang didn't want this to happen to her. Hadn't. Hadn't wanted this. It was hard to think of Aang in the past tense, like trying to reconcile fluffy rabbit-puppies with grown saber-toothed moose lions. He had been the kind of person - energetic, lively - who one always assumes will live forever.

Katara sighs once more, as if reading Zuko's thoughts. He looks up, and this time when she meets his gaze she is the first to look away. Zuko knows it is time to make her get past the day of the comet. It is unhealthy to live in the past, and no one who cares for her wanted this fate for Katara. Aang would not have, Sokka and Suki certainly don't, and behind all her contempt, Toph still cares for Katara and hates to see her that way.

These thoughts give him the courage he desperately needs. She looks up again, finds him still staring at him, and snaps, "What?" Absurdly, this anger gives him hope. It shows that somewhere, there is still a bit of Katara left. His instincts tell him that he should run and hide somewhere, preferably where there's no water she can attack him with, and an image of a smaller version of him cowering under the table while Katara wanders around (water whips at the ready) flashes into his head. Still, he perseveres. There's really no way to ease the topic into conversation.

Not that there is much conversation. "I think Aang..." his voice seems to dry up as he sees her expression. There is no anger there, no sadness either, just a horrible practiced blank emptiness that reminds him of a bottomless pit. He would honestly prefer the crying Katara on the boat the other day, at least she seemed human. Katara has had to deal with more loss than the average person, yet she got past it. Didn't she?

"What do you think about Aang, Zuko?" she says in that hollow, empty voice he so hates. Irrationally, the anger creeping in her voice in the next words comforts him, although the words don't. "What _do_ you think about Aang, considering you practically killed him?" she shouts.

Her anger overwhelms her and she rises from the table with a bang as she knocks over her chair. Gathering all the water on the table with a sweep of her hand, she forms it into a thousand deadly icicles and aims them all at Zuko, her movements stiff and jerky with anger and lack of practice. Instinctively, Zuko's firebending protects him. He creates a shield of fire around him, and pushes it slightly outwards, dispelling it immediately once the ice melts and the water splashes onto the floor.

"_FIGHT ME_!" shouts Katara. "I knew it! You betrayed us then and you betrayed me now. How DARE you talk about Aang as if he was your friend? You're just like that _dirty, disgusting, LOW _pirate." Zuko pushes down his anger practicedly as he jumps around the room to avoid her continuous attacks, sometimes dissipating them with small fire blasts.

"KATARA," he yells over her. Momentarily, she stops her tirade and he jumps at the opportunity. "Please, just listen. I know you've closed yourself off from the world. Whatever happened to Aang you clearly blame on me, so the only thing you seem to feel now is anger and hate. But I'm glad you're angry. Before, you've only felt resignation, despair, sadness and loss. You couldn't be motivated enough to feel anger - you were too closed off for passion, which is required for anger. At least you feel something now!"

"I FEEL SOMETHING?" comes her enraged shout. Each of her next words is accompanied by an attack of some kind, ranging from water whips to ice daggers. "You're _glad_ I feel something? Well, that just makes me so happy. Is that enough passion for you? I know you just did all this anyway for your _stupid _FIRE LORD throne. It makes you happy, doesn't it, for people to bow and scrape to you just like your father. Daddy's little boy..."

"SHUT UP!" he roars, and miraculously, she is silenced. Her arms drop in disbelief at her sides. "You think I'm _anything_ like my father, maybe I should just, oh I don't know, GIVE YOU A SCAR to prove it." He advances towards her throughout his speech, as she stands frozen and a hand comes up to her mouth, which forms a perfect O of surprise. He is too angry to even care. A flame forms in one of his hands as the other points to his scar. "That's right, my 'daddy' is so perfect and loves me _so _much that he gave me a scar to prove it. And being Fire Lord is a HARD job!"

She has been moving away from him as he advances and the flame in his hand slowly dies as they stare at each other with changed perspectives. Katara's back leans on the wall as she slowly slides to a sitting position, with a vulnerable look on her face. He storms over to the table, grabs her untouched plate and comes back to sit opposite her. They sit cross-legged on the floor, and he balances the bowl on his legs, takes the chopsticks and slowly begins to feed her the noodles.

The rest of the evening is spent pretending. He pretends not to notice the tears rolling down her face, she pretends not to notice his, she pretends not to notice his free hand covering hers, he pretends that he doesn't know she has intertwined their fingers and they both pretend that the other's touch does not comfort them.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTES: I has TONS of new fanart! This chapter is also dedicated to all the wonderful people over at dA who did it for me. Go to my profile to see it, it really helps you see how I visualized the story. Here are more hints on what happened to Aang. There's MOAR Zutara too, but they're not in love or like yet. Trust me. He's just helping her get over what happened to Aang, and she's just beginning to truly trust him.**

**Read and review, peeps! The person who gives me a believable reason as to why Hakoda didn't go looking for Katara himself since Sokka's busy (and not just because of his grandchild, I think that wouldn't be enough to stop Hakoda when he was worried about Katara) will get three points! 25 points = 1 oneshot for you.**

**Anonymous reviews are enabled if you don't have an FF account. My 100th reviewer will also get a oneshot/ drabble of their choice.  
**


	10. Chapter Nine: Schadenfreude

**No own.**

**Song for this chapter is **Hot N Cold **by **Katy Perry**. I felt like this chapter needed a lighter song, and there's nothing frothier than Katy Perry. It's a bit of a mood setter. Enjoy! And find it here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=rYZ9HZW7RYk **- replace DOT with .**

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**Chapter Nine** - Schandenfreude

Just because Katara tolerates Zuko now doesn't mean she won't laugh as he struggles to rise from the bed. She leans against the door, enjoying watching him fail after he declared at least five times that he is okay. She can feel the smirk spreading across her face and his desperate attempts to avoid humiliation. She could tell him that it is too late for that.

She has come to his room this morning for the precise reason that he insisted was unnecessary. He doesn't need help, of course not. He is _fine_! It was a knock on the head, which is better now! Katara decides she will heal it completely today. His failures at mind-body coordination are funny, but a little worrying.

Drawing enough water out of her skin, she moves towards the protesting Zuko and places the healing glow around his head. She feels some bruising around his head, but is relieved to find that he is otherwise fine. Quickly she heals the damage, and then watches in satisfaction as he is able to rise from the bed without incident.

Suddenly, she realizes what she had forgotten in her amusement. She doesn't really know how to behave around him, although it seems natural to joke with him, she has to remind herself he is not her friend yet, not really. Zuko is a nice person, perhaps he did not betray them, but it seems strangely sudden to give up her animosity, as though it is a habit that is hard to get rid of.

Katara draws back quickly, and Zuko notices her involuntary steps back. He carefully does not show any emotions, also slightly confused on how to treat her. He is used to anger at her, despair at her unforgiving nature, regret and sadness. This, however, is something entirely new. Not quite friendship, but it might be.

"Thank you," he says, to break the silence that has formed between them. She smiles slightly, reminds him of his sister when she was younger, although there is no cruel undertone to Katara's smile.

"Want some breakfast?" she asks, makes him grateful for this gesture of friendliness. "Yes, but I'm not sure I should go down with _this_," he says, gesturing to his scar slightly self-consciously. He is surprised to find that the slight dull pain that normally comes while discussing it is almost gone. It had been a sharp reminder of his failure at first, and now he was somewhat...proud of it, it shows his refusal to conform with whatever is wrong. These are Iroh's words, not his, yet they console him. He reminisces slightly on how useful Iroh has been in gently guiding Zuko's path.

His mind is brought back to Katara as she fiddles with the curtain tie. "Couldn't you...disguise yourself or something?" she asks. Zuko considers the possibility, then decides it has been a long time since he was able to relax and enjoy a meal. "I could try," he says. Despite Katara's giggles that he is better at make up than her (for this is what the powder seems to be, apparently Mai's complexion is probably not naturally white) the scar is soon faded enough to be unnoticable in the dimmer light of the dining room of the inn.

He turns to leave, but notices that Katara is still rooted to the spot. "I could still heal that, you know?" she says, turning it into a question. Her hand half raises, and Zuko is reminded of the night in the cave. His hand gently brings down her hand before it reaches his face. "I think I've accepted it, it is a part of me now. I can't imagine myself without it," he explains. Her expression remains tentative, but her face lightens a little. She hopes that he has recovered from the night before. To have your own father...she cannot bear to think it.

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They are soon down in the dining room, tucked out of sight in the dingiest corner. Zuko leans back into the shadows, away from the people in the room. There are not many at this time of day, too many are suffering from sake-sickness. He wonders whether this is truly the best inn he could have found. Of course, he had been in a hurry to find Katara at the time. With this new old Katara***** he would probably have to rescue the pirates from her.

It is a relief to not have to worry about anything. Not the Fire Lord duties, nothing. He now realizes what a burden it has been the last few months to bear the weight of the kingdom. He never allows Iroh to help him, believing it is unfair to Iroh. Although he had been unwilling to admit it, he has been slightly excited about the mission. It is slightly pathetic how he has longed for some kind of adventure in his life once more.

Katara is polishing off her food and he realizes with a start she is soon going to start on his if he does not watch out. He quickly pulls his plate towards himself and begins to gobble not too dignifiedly, this isn't a state dinner. He's glad for it. He had seen her hand slinking along the table toward his food.

She draws back with a disappointed look, he thinks just for a second about her childishly droll expression before triumphantly eating. She sticks out her tongue.

"Very mature Katara," he says loftily. She splashes some water on his head and he begins to steam before realizing they could be attracting attention. A few people around the room look curious. This is not a good sign, they are still in the Earth Kingdom docks, not the safest place for the Fire Lord and the people in this room this early are the ones who are still inebriated from the previous night.

Some of the revellers are moving towards Zuko and Katara in drunken confusion. They have not yet figured out their identities, fortunately. This is evidence of their intoxication, as Katara's identity is not extremely hard to guess, especially with her spirit back. Katara begins to grow worried. A familiar looking man stumbles towards Zuko. She thinks she has seen him in the Earth Rumble...was his name The Hippo? He is recognizable from his distinctly large teeth.

Zuko swallows. To begin a conflict here is not possible. He draws back, trying to hide his scar in the shadows - the back of his chair touches the wall, there is no further to go.

"Oof!" Zuko gasps, as a warm weight lands in his lap and arms encircle his neck. He starts and is about to throw off the person when the arms tighten around his neck and a familiar voice whispers in his ear.

"Shut _up!_" Katara mutters. "I'm hiding your scar for you. And this way we'll seem more like the type of people that do live here." She leans back slightly and appears to tip over from the effort, causing him to reflexively put his hands around her back to stop her from making them both fall from the chair. "Good," she leans in, artfully letting her hair fall over his face. He gulps.

Bam. The door slams into the wall as someone stumbles through in a hurry and both of them jump. He can smell her - she smells fresh somehow, a bit like sesame. Both of them miss the man's initial statement but all hear the cheering at his next words. "The Dragon of the West's gone!"

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*(A/N - That's NOT a typo)**

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**AUTHOR'S NOTES: A nice break from action. SO hard to write! Sorry for the cliffie :) Most people have another word for sake-sickness! Obligatory shoutout to fandomme included in this chapter. Read her story Stormbenders if you haven't already! **

**I loved the amount of reviews I got last chapter. :) The title of this chapter means enjoyment in another's misfortune, and is perfectly applicable for all of the chapter!  
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**Thanks for YET more fanart. I love you all! Look at my profile for links.  
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	11. Chapter Ten: That's What You Get

**Sue me.**

**The song for this chapter is **Ring of Fire **by **Johnny Cash**. The version I want can be found here - replace the DOT with a . **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=Y2iv_E-Fn9E** The other song is **Fix You **by **Coldplay**. Find it here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=vLCJpEb6hvw

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**Chapter Ten** - That's What You Get

He knows he shouldn't have dared to leave the country. He knew he shouldn't have been happy even for a second. The universe didn't let him be happy. Every time he thought he might be getting close, something like this was sent him way.

After the man's words, he freezes immediately. Everything else in the background fades to a blur, and he hears nothing other than the thrumming of his heart. He can hear Katara's warning, her furious admonishments into his ear, and faintly notices that she is still in his lap. He shrugs her off, rises from his chair in a blur of fury.

"….wooden room…listen…" Katara fades in and out. Flames emerge from his tightly clenched fists and the noise in the room, which has tapered down, bursts out again. The brighter light enables a few to take a closer look at his face and there is a cry of recognition and following anger.

"How dare you come here?" shouts a man. There is a chorus of agreement and dissatisfaction, which seems to slowly be giving way to violence. Katara tugs on one of his hands, but fortunately for her, makes no attempt to douse the flames. She seems to realize that now that their 'secret' is out, they will need all the help they can get.

The babbling of the men falls to a hush as they notice the flames through their drunken haze. The man who came bearing the news seems more sober than the others, but still steps forward as a challenger. Zuko pushes a ring of flame out, pushing back all those around him and Katara, who is standing perfectly still behind him. The flames seem to unnerve her slightly; they bring her back to a day that she has to now put behind her. Angry at herself for being such a coward, she steps slightly out from behind Zuko. All the liquids in the room are gathered towards her.

The men suddenly find themselves without their drinks, which only serves to make them more angry. Only the most angry at Zuko's presence are left in the room now, the others had sensed danger and removed themselves quickly. The men have now been pushed back into a circle by the ring of fire. Some take the opportunity and decide to move out of the door directly behind them.  
The Hippo tries to break forward from the line, but finds himself on the floor after Katara sends him a tripping device made from frozen beverages. As she brings the liquid back, she realizes she has forgotten one crucial thing. Alcohol is flammable. The liquid she holds is now in flames. Panicking, she lets it drop.

Almost instantly, the room is in flames. The wooden walls have absorbed enough fumes from alcohol over the years to render them equivalent to spark rocks. Zuko notices that there seem to be more flames than usual, then continues fighting whoever dares challenge him. There seem to be less and less people for some reason. He pauses between combatants to notice that most of the men, in fact almost all of them have fled through the door directly behind them.

Only the Hippo remains, with a few of his most loyal followers. Even participating in the Earth Rumble seems to be enough to get you loyal fans. "The Hippo is undeterred by the flames!" he pronounces, his brainless followers echoing his call.

Zuko is willing to stay in the room, he doesn't care what happens to him as long as the Hippo admits defeat, but Katara is tugging on his arm. "Zuko, we need to leave now!" she says, a worried edge to her voice. "I can't bend in here, the only thing liquid is alcohol, which is flammable. Please?" Her voice sounds curiously weak on the last few words, and he faintly recalls the day of the comet.

"Fine." His voice is flat. She moves quickly towards a hole in the wall with smoking edges. The wood from this section has collapsed into itself, and it will not remain an exit for very long. She runs through, and he is about to follow in resignation – he owes her this much – when something hits the back of his neck and he falls to the ground.  
As he fades out he hears the Hippo's voice. "We've got both the Fire Lords now! Dead or alive, that's what they said!"

* * *

"Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot." Katara doesn't think that she can adequately express her disgust with herself. There is really no excuse for her stupidity. She feels for Zuko. She really does. Knowing him, he probably wasn't listening when the man talked about what happened to his uncle, and he does not know what happened to him.

If this was her father she would be foaming by now. Yet she knows her father is safe back in the South Pole. He would be horrified to find out her state. He knows she was devasted by Aang's...death. It feels safe to say it now. She never said it before, that would make it too real. But Hakoda has thought Katara was safely living with Toph. She has not questioned whether it was right for them all to decieve him.

She is now kicking herself soundly. She would probably have been able to do it better had she not been in chains. It is all her fault. She should not have reacted to the flames with such alarm. The flaming liquid was nowhere near her, it would have been a more effective tool than simply water. But she _had _to panic. This is all her fault. She deserves to be here, captured.

Of course Zuko is an idiot for revealing that he is a Fire Nation citizen, but she can't fully blame him. He was under intense emotional pressure at the time. She will control her urge to kick him in the behind, like he so clearly deserves.

She does not know who their captors are. After Zuko fell, she began to turn around, but not quickly enough. Another rock hit her on the head (apparently travelling with the Fire Lord is crime enough) and she went down too. She remembers the Hippo and assumes their captors are similar low-lifes.

And now all she knows is that she is lying in chains on the floor of some dark room. There is no room for movement. Their captors - how she hates to use the word - are taking no chances.

They, however, seem to be secure enough to leave herself in the same room with Zuko, although this is not much of a risk since he is even more heavily knocked out than her and shows no signs of awakening. She is not worried though...now. In the future there might be reason for worry, but for now he is more valuable to them alive.

She's a bit worried about his head. She knows that he has had two blows to the head in the last few days, and despite the fact that she healed him fully last time, he doesn't have much brain to spare.

Her eyes have now fully adjusted to the semi-darkness of the room and she sees that Zuko lies on the opposite end of the room, covered in chains which certainly weigh more than him. They wrap around from his hands, around his body, and end attached to the wall. Katara is a bit insulted that she does not recieve as many chains as Zuko, do they think she is less strong? Still, she's not complaining about their idiocy.

Wriggling, she struggles to rise from the floor. She rocks up and down in an attempt to rise from the floor and after a few agonizing attempts, manages to rise from the floor to a leaning position against the wall opposite to Zuko's. Panting slightly from the effort (she has discovered her chains are not exactly light), she ponders on what to do next. There seems to be nothing to do but wait. She gathers all the water she finds in the room with a few twitches of her fingers, freezing it next to her for future use, their jailers do not seem to realize what a waterbender can do.

However, she sees no way to release herself from the chains - there seems to be no lock for them, and ice is certainly not going to cut through metal. Even if she somehow manages to get free, she does not know how many people are there outside, and with Zuko still unconscious, she would probably not be able to take them on. The best, and only, thing to do is wait. She uses the water to check the damage on both of them - she is fine after a healing, and Zuko hasn't lost more brain cells than he can spare. He was hit on the neck, and although she grows worried that he might lose something more serious such as his ability to move, she heals him in time.

She stays vigilant after this for as long as she can, waiting for any sign from either whoever has imprisoned them or Zuko. Yet after seemingly aeons pass, she nods off, still waiting.

* * *

She is started awake by loud voices from somewhere around them. She has no time to gather her water, to notice that Zuko is awake, or to do _anything_ before a terrifying creature enters the room.

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**A/N - This chapter has a lighter tone despite what happened to Iroh because Katara is narrating. If it was Zuko it would be angst!moreangst! etc.**

**Sorry for not telling what happened to Iroh yet! Please don't kill me for another cliffhanger....**

**The title of the chapter is also the 21st prompt on Zutara-Eternity on deviantart. This is my somewhat entry. A quick update because I was merciful, and mellowed by fanart and reviews! THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS! I love you all, even those who just read!**


	12. Chapter Eleven: Phobia

**I love you all. The song is **Shadows **by **Nidji**, and took me a while to find, so I would appreciate if you all listen! It's here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=aKrMIKQVwEs&feature=related

**Read notes at end also. This chapter is dedicated to all the artists for their fanart!  
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**Chapter Eleven** - Phobia

It takes a while for Zuko to realize how bad the situation is. _Something _that looks like nothing he has seen - perhaps a creature from the Spirit World? - has entered the room. Who are their enemies and how do they have such creatures? What technology do they possess to get a creature like this?

The creature moves towards Katara and her chains snap off. How did she do that? She must have worked her way out of the chains earlier. Still, she doesn't have much water...

"Hey!" he calls. Automatically the creature turns its head his way, seeming to see him for the first time. It is about to move back when he calls "Snot-brain!", taking a leaf from Toph's book and his chains snap off as it starts to come his way.

He yells a brief thanks to Katara and begins to think about how to engage in battle with the monster. It is made out of some hard material - perhaps rock? How does one attack rock? It is invulnerable to all but the most intense, sustained heats - and he does not have time for those kind of flames. Rock cannot be sliced open by ice either. He dodges the rocks the creature throws at him as it advances, but one nicks his shoulder. Blood blossoms on his shirt, and although it's only a scrape, his anger increases tenfold. The monster has surprisingly poor aim for one so large.

His brain seems to be working twice as fast under the pressure. He can feel his mind racing as he evaluates the possibilities. They cannot simply run from the creature - it is twice the size of the door (he wonders how it entered), and they do not know what is outside. It is impossible to attack it with any of the elements at their resource...or is it? Althought neither water nor fire can damage rock immmediately, both of them working together might be able to do so. He has heard of cases where intense heating and cooling has caused rock to crumble.

He calls to Katara, who is standing in a daze at the side of the room. "Katara!" She snaps out of her trance, gathering the water to her. "Freeze the rock thing when I tell you to," he says. Her upper lip sticks out in a familiar gesture of disobediance and defiance at being ordered around. "Please?" he adds, as she beams and complies.

"Now!" he shouts, and immediately after the ice freezes the rock temporarily, he sends a burst of flames that dissolves the ice. Is it his imagination, or is the rock slowly wearing away? With a roar, a greater wall of rock rises up before his fire, and he realizes he has made a terrible miscalculation - the monster is also an earthbender.

A rock rises up above his head, taunting him. It is too far out of his reach, too large to be affected by flames, and moves as he does. Just as it is about to drop, Katara gasps. "_Toph?_"

Instantly the rock falls to the ground, the room's state is restored as the rocks return to their places, and the rock covering falls to reveal the familiar face spread in a grin.

"Good to see you."

Her grin is cut short as Katara lunges at her in frustration and roars, "This time you've gone too far!" A half-grin spreads across Zuko's face with the lightness of freedom and the familiarity of the scene. Toph sidesteps neatly, the smile spreading across her face again.

* * *

"Why would you _do _that?" Katara still hasn't recovered from their encounter with Toph. "Those guys could have harmed us, or hurt us! And why did you ask them to capture Iroh?"  
Zuko's heart fills with the joy he feels every time he hears those words. Captured, not killed. It contracts with worry once more as he begins to fear for his safety. The earthbenders had said dead or alive before.

"What did they do with Iroh?" he says roughly, interrupts whatever Toph and Katara were arguing about.

Toph says nothing and his anger grows. Before he explodes, she begins speaking, and he is once again filled with the rush of both affection and anger he feels around Toph. "I'm sorry Zuko," she says. And he begins to worry anew. Toph _never _apologizes.

"I heard about you guys because those idiots who got you couldn't keep quiet. My people tell me what's going on. So I just paid them enough money. And knocked them around a little." Despite herself, her lips curl upwards slightly. Zuko remembers the knock on the neck he got and almost smiles.

"But whoever got Pops has kept it so quiet that I haven't even heard about it. I hear a lot of things, but I didn't hear a whisper about this. They may not even be from the Earth Kingdom. And they had nothing to do with either your or Katara's capture."

Katara can see Zuko swallowing across the room. His throat bobs up and down as he tries to form a word, any word. She understands what he feels. They have no clues, nowhere to work from, and are exactly where they started. She can see the naked despair on his face and fears for him. He looks almost as lost as she felt when he first found her on the ship.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Toph knows everything about the Earth Kingdom! Sorry about the abruptly switching viewpoints, I just go with whatever seems best for the scene.**

**Also, I'm sorry if you don't like the length of the chapter, but it's either this or you waiting for a month. I think writer's block is about to strike. I know what I want to do with the rest of the story, but I don't know how to get there.**

**I realized I never properly thanked all the artists who have done art for this story. THANK YOU! Look at my profile and appreciate their hard work! I hope the links work :)  
**

Ninja Zuko (by Twilight-Sheikah) - Chapter 4

Lantaris (by mischabrannon) - Chapter 4

But It Is Enough For Now (by Moony92) - Chapter 5

Enough For Now (by songst3r) - Chapter 5

Zuko and crying drugged girl (by k-naille) - Chapter 5

Meetings (by skybluespirit) - Chapter 5

Zuko Katara (by Reyenne) - Chapter 5

Enough for Now (by Chikara-San) - Chapter 5

Thanks (by wuansen) - Chapter 5

Awakenings (by skybluespirit) - Chapter 6

Zutara sketch (by J-Cleo) - Chapter 7

Are you all right...Lee? (by konejita20) - Chapter 7

"Hello, good people" (by justcallmefaye) - Chapter 7

Meeting (I call it Behind Closed Doors) (by Tornac) - Chapter 7

Unexpected Reunion (by sunsetriver) - Chapter 7

Zuko (by Panda-Ink) - Chapter 7

Chibi Zuko (by athenasoyl) - Chapter 8

Play Pretend (by k-naille) - Chapter 8

Anywhere (by Green-Raincoat) - Chapter 8

Schandenfreude (by sexy-ninja-bear) - Chapter 9

Learn How To Fear Me (by PrinceLee) - general, could be taken as part of both my stories :)


	13. Chapter Twelve: Now What?

**Hello all! Update tiemz. Obviously I don't own the series, but I do own the fic. Sorry for the shortness, it seemed longer. Still, it appears I've moved past my writer's block.**

**The song for this chapter is **Pictures of You** by **The Cure**, and even if you don't listen to any of the other songs for the chapters, PLEASE listen to this, it really sets the mood. It can be found here, with a . instead of DOT, as usual - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=MG6UNn7l-aw&feature=related

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**Chapter Twelve** - Now What?

Toph knows both Zuko and Katara very well by now. She knows their heartbeats, she knows their emotions, and she knows their moves in battle. She knows the way Zuko shuffles when he's depressed and doesn't want to show it, and she's heard Katara stomping more times than she can count. She doesn't think it's creepy that she knows this, although Katara once told her it was. They are her friends, and it's impossible for her not to know them.

Some of then she knows better than others. Knew. Her friends have all been made since the day she decided to join Aang, and for that reason he had always been her closest friend. She knew Katara had always been his, but he came to her whenever he had jokes he knew Katara wouldn't find funny, and when he just wanted to laugh. He even seemed to like the way she bullied him.

This is why she understands the meaning of Zuko's repetitive sighs and Katara's tapping of her fingernails against the wooden table. They were trying to brainstorm. So far they had nothing.

"Can you _stop _that?" she says, as her patience wears out. She can understand that they are worried about Iroh, she is too. But she can't _think_ with the noise!

Both of their heart rates speed up and they apologize. She sighs. She can't be angry with them. It's even worse than being angry with The Boulder. Why do they have to be such rabbit puppies about this? They should be strong, only then can they find Iroh!

"Can you check with your sources again?" Katara asks. "You found us, they have to know _something_."

"If you want to go ask, Katara, go do it yourself," Toph says with angelic patience. She can feel Zuko's head jerking upwards. Katara's footsteps leave the room in order to meet The Boulder, and Zuko takes his chance.

"Toph, I know you said that Katara couldn't get over...things, but I think she's actually further along than you now," Zuko says. "Why aren't you being sarcastic anymore? And...I know I'm going to regret saying this, but you aren't using our nicknames any more either."

She knows what coming next, she knows he's upset, she knows he's trying to be nice, but she can't help it. "What, _Sparky_?" she spits viciously, ignoring his speeding heartbeat. "I'm sorry I don't use your precious little nickname. I didn't know it meant so much to you."

His heartbeat rises in a pattern of anger that she recognizes. Before allowing him a chance to speak, she continues. "You think you can just come in here and _fix _all of us after what happened to Aang? It may have worked for Katara but it won't work for me." Her bitterness spews out, and she doesn't care that his heartbeat now forms the sadness pattern as well. She wants him angry, not sad. She doesn't want to feel sorry for him.

She isn't yelling, but she knows this is worse. Yelling exposes your true emotions, and by remaining a mask, she frustrates Zuko even more. "I don't need your fake sympathy, or your psychoanalysis. _I can take care of myself_. Always have, always will. Now concentrate on finding your uncle and maybe we'll get along."

Before Zuko can say anything else, Katara re-enters the room. Toph chooses not to continue, for she knows Katara will probably only support Zuko (at least that's what she tells herself, she just doesn't want to hurt Katara).

Zuko isn't restrained by this though. "Well, _Toph_, I was just trying to help, but I forgot that the Almighty Toph obviously didn't need it."

Toph restrains herself from 'helping' a rock smack him in the face. Instead, she turns to Katara, leaving Zuko baffled and even more annoyed, just as she had intended. "Did you find anything?" she questions, the picture of sweetness.

Just as Zuko begins, "I know you...", he is distracted by Katara's words.

"Yes."  
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A/N: Chapter title explains my feelings while writing! ****This is not Toko, it's more of sibling!Toko.**

**My recommended author for this chapter is **khushiyan**. Dark stories, but I loved them. If you've read these comments and listened to the song, put the words BLOB in your review. Just checking :)**

Beyond The Rising Sun **by **justcallmefaye** - READ! It's truly amazing.  
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**I have two more chapters ready because soon I'll be off for a month or more, but I'll post those before I leave :) Not yet though.  
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	14. Chapter Thirteen: Hilarious

**This chapter is dedicated to ell25.**

**The song for this chapter is **The Scientist** by** Coldplay**. Find it here, replacing DOT with . - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=V3Kd7IGPyeg

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**Chapter Thirteen** - Hilarious

Zuko's instantly eager, pleading expression might have been funny in another, twisted world, but it was heartbreaking in this one. She could see hope beginning to gather, even through restraints placed on it, and reluctantly began to dispel it.

"It's not much. It's nothing really." Before his face shatters, she quickly clarifies. "But it is something." Then kicks herself for sounding like an idiot, and playing with his emotions. "The Boulder knows someone who knows someone who knows someone...well someone knows something. But all they know is that he's _somewhere_ in the Fire Nation. That's all. And they mentioned the..." the next words are whispered "Western Air Temple."

Instantly, Toph is out of the door and raging towards the nearest means of transport. If she can't find anything she'll use rocks. Katara knows she would react like this. After she glances at Zuko's face, she realizes that he too is livid. He looks ready to explode. The temperature of the room grows as Katara puts herself between Toph and the door, which she realizes is an unwise move.

Toph is about to attack when she takes a deep breath and lowers her hands. Strange. Katara feels another of the many pangs she has felt. She doesn't recognize Toph any more. She hadn't managed to keep touch with anyone after the comet. Now she is beginning to get to know her friends again. Sokka and Suki have been sent a note explaining the urgency of the situation. Both of them had to be dissuaded (rather forcefully) from coming, and Hakoda also got a brief note. She has not explained things fully to him yet, but now he knows more than he did. He was angry, but that hopefully will die down before she returns to the South Pole. He has not come to see her, but this is only because of his deep trust for Zuko.

"They're dead," Toph says emotionlessly. Only the slight tremble of one hand betrays her. Zuko seems to forget whatever resentment he has had against her and nods in the background. Both of them are driven with purpose. Katara's anger is no less, but if there is one thing her time in depression has taught her, it is that there is a time for anger. Still, she knows that this control is precarious and that her anger will burst through given the slightest provocation.

"I don't care who they are," Toph growls. "My entire army is going after them," Zuko continues. Katara robs him of that idea.

"Zuko, I don't think you should go back to your palace just yet. This seems to have been a very elaborate plan. The Boulder told me all the news from the Fire Nation. Ursa, Mai, and some other top officials have been spirited away by the Den Bu to a location of safety, but the kingdom is in chaos. Some of the leaders in your army have been killed or defected, as have officials. No one knows what to do or expect." As she speaks, she can feel the weight of despair settling over the room.

Zuko's curses would have impressed even the pirates. "It can't be that bad. It can't be that easy for them to do that without even my knowing. The Den Bu***** should have found this out. My council should have known!"

"Your council is corrupt and decaying," comes Toph's voice from the background.

"I _know_," Zuko agonizes. "But I was about to replace them and there were so many things..."

"There are no excuses for letting the lowest kind of people take over the place where Aang is buried." Toph continues as though she has not heard him.

Aang was buried according to the customs of the Air People. Katara had thought the nomads would have wished to have their ashes scattered across the sky, but apparently in death, they wanted earth around them. Shaking herself from morbid thoughts, she plans. She is the only one in the room with enough control left to do this. "So we can't reveal ourselves," she says. "We can live as we did when Ozai was ruler. All we need to do is to get to the area, and we can handle things from there."

"I'll get us there." Toph's control over herself is beginning to unnerve Katara in contrast to Zuko's boiling anger.

"We can do this," Katara encourages, but she feels the futility of her words as they are lost among the hopelessness in the room.

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As they sneak their way onto a ship at night, Katara realizes exactly how bad things are in the Fire Nation. On a boat bound for the Fire Nation, they are on their way. Crouched in the corner of a storage room with a basket bumping against her hip at every slight movement, she recognizes this as a luxury when they are caught as they make their way out of the boat.

A thin man with parched skin gives them a once-over before leering in a manner that makes Katara want to water-whip him. Still, she decides to go the way of caution. "We got delayed making our way off the boat," she says. "Thank you for checking for us." She moves as to move past him, but he does not move.

"Oh, is _that _right?" he questions in a sing-song voice. "I know refugees when I see them. But I might be _persuaded_ to let you pass."

"Do you mark the honor of married women?" Zuko rasps in an attempt to mask his distinctive voice. He has no need to. Most citizens do not even know the voice of their ruler. He is too reclusive for that, and they have never had the chance to know him, and thus cannot like him. Katara feels an arm coming across her shoulders as Zuko tugs her to his side. Toph still looks too young for anyone to believe that she may be married, even with Fire Nation customs.

In the action, Zuko's hood slips from over his head and even this man knows of his scar. Zuko grabs at the hood, but it is too late. The man backs up slightly, his mouth open. Zuko evidently decides to risk the situation. "As your Fire Lord, I demand you to obey me," he says, his voice slipping into the terms of the court.

"Your title doesn't mean anything any more," the man sneers. He opens his mouth to yell to his companions but only gets to the first syllable before Katara whips him across the head and he is knocked to the ground.

They make their way into an inn on the way to Konejita, the last town on the way to the Air Temple, and Zuko realizes that nothing is sacred any more, not in this new world. And a small part of his heart dies as he realizes that there is next to no hope for his land. The other parts are only held together by the feel of Katara's hand on his shoulder as she reads his emotions as adeptly as he can hers. Toph sits on the other side of the room in a reverie, not even returning to the morning's topic.

They sit in the room, the pieces of Zuko's world around them.

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***Den Bu - Basically the most elite warriors and spies  


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**A/N: Misleading chapter title! So...much...angst! I'm not leaving yet, there will be at least three more chapters before I go! **

**Also, there were next to NO reviews last chapter :( I wasn't encouraged to post at all. Thank you ell25 - this chapter is dedicated to you! As a reward, you recieve a drabble/ oneshot of your choice!  
**


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Clocks

**Slightly mature content in this chapter. About a T rating. Nothing bad, but just a bit disturbing.**

**I have even more fanart!**

**The song for this chapter is **Hide and Seek** by** Imogen Heap** and can be found here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=sWQgntIxkrw **- replacing DOT with . All credit to artists where it is due :)**

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**Chapter Fourteen** - Clocks

All Zuko can wait for is for time to pass by. The clocks move agonizingly slowly, and there is nothing he can do to speed up their journey. There is a limit to the speed and distance ostrich horses can travel, and although he wishes he could run to the temple himself, he will conserve his strength till he meets the people responsible for the situation.

It scares Katara a little to see Zuko filled with nothing but purpose. He has nothing left, no emotion, beyond a small sigh of relief after he discovered that his mother and Mai were safely in hiding.

Of course, Toph is exactly the same. For a different reason, but her manner resembles Zuko's. She talks to no one but when necessary, and dinners and rest stops, which Katara has to force the others to take, for the sake of the ostrich-horses, are uncomfortable. These are a far cry from the days in which the fire would be surrounded by jokes. Of course, there was always Aang then. He provided laughter wherever he went. Katara feels a deep pang everytime she thinks of Aang, yet this is a far cry from the void of sadness that she was surrounded by earlier.

They have had no time to do anything. Apart from a few messages sent to certain allies like Haru and his school of benders, and Smellerbee and Longshot's gang, they have not paused for anything but to pack (the barest essentials) and since then they have been travelling. She is not sure about their 'allies'. They may be busy with other aspects of their work, and they may not make it in time.

The ostrich-horses move forward, Katara is left idle with her thoughts.

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"Let's go in." Toph is ready. "No," comes Zuko's forceful reply. The clash of personalities is evident, yet Toph recognizes that there is no plan, they do not even know who they face. They need some kind of reconnaissance mission.

All of them volunteer, but this is impossible. Someone needs to stay behind for backup. To Toph's disgust, she is reluctantly ruled out for the mission. They need the most information about their enemies that they can get, and unfortunately, if it's someone she doesn't know, simply the recognition of their heartbeats will not be enough.

They debate whether one or two of them should go. Toph thinks that both the others should go, whereas Zuko feels that only one is necessary, and it should be him. Things threaten to turn into another battle of wills when Katara hastily intervenes between whatever they're fighting about.

"I'll go," she says in a tone that means no further argument is needed.

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The sight below Katara sickens her. She has seen many terrible things in her life, she is a child of war after all. Her mother after the attack, people during the eclipse, many sights have scarred her through the course of her life. However, at this moment, nothing is worse than what she sees in front of her.

She feels faintly dizzy and nauseous, although she's not sure whether it's from pure rage or disgust. Because what she sees is Aang's tomb, open and empty below her. A large number of people dressed in red, green, and even a few in below are milling around the courtyard on the outside of the temple. This isn't just a revolt. This is almost another war.

There are dozens of people outside, and she cannot begin to imagine how many people are on the inside. Something sour rises up to the back of her throat as she catches sight of the hole in the ground where Aang's stone box should have lain. Toph had made that box, and she only knew how much it had cost her.

Katara wants to run at them right there, and kill them for whatever they have done to her friend's memory. She doesn't care if she dies. The water in the fountain begins to rock slightly. One of the men below smacks another on the head, and Katara starts as the movement of the water is stilled by a sweep of the man's hand.

They have waterbenders. Katara wants to confront whoever from her nation is helping these people. Aang had saved _both_ the water tribes. He had saved the entire world. How could anyone doubt that?

She knows there are some in the Northern Water Tribe (mostly headed by Hahn, Yue's 'grieving' fiance) who believe that the Fire Nation should never be forgiven for what they did to the Northern Water Tribe. But this number is much larger than she imagined.

She presses closer to the courtyard, trying her best to get within hearing range of the conversations below her. A few glimpses of their chatter floats upward.

"I killed _four_ of my classmates when the Master asked me too."  
"Well, I got the last guard outside Iroh's room..."

If Katara was not queasy already, this would have done it for her. Perhaps on the surface these people seemed normal, but they were nothing of the kind. They were a highly trained assassination organization, and there was no kindly guard here for Iroh to befriend.

But when a figure steps out of the inner area of the temple into view and the whole courtyard instantly falls silent, it is only then that Katara realizes they are on the brink of another war.

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**None of this story has turned out the way I thought it would, including this chapter. And don't take everything you see at face value! At least two/ three more chapters on the way before I take a month's leave :)**

**PS - I LOVED the amount of reviews last chapter, they made me SO happy. I'm close to 100 reviews now, so whoever gets that gets a drabble/ oneshot of their choice. If it's an anonymous reviewer, sorry, but I won't be able to know your identity (unless you give me a link to your deviantart or something), so otherwise the next signed review after that will get the one-shot/ drabble.  
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	16. Chapter Fifteen: Twilight

**Haven't said this for a while - don't own.**

**Song for this chapter is **Whispers In The Dark **by** Skillet**. Found here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=9kfi3rN0C50

**I know it's short but the next one is much longer**

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**Chapter Fifteen** - Twilight

It was Long Feng. Katara should have known he is behind something like this. He is the obvious suspect. Indeed, she has considered the possibility, but she has thought he is safely locked away in the Earth Kingdom dungeons. But with Long Feng, there is no place safe enough to lock him. That meant the Dai Li have to be here too...even though they had been disloyal to him, they would side with whoever got them out of prison.

An orderly squadron of Dai Li march behind Long Feng. They stop the same moment he does, in a smoothly orchestrated move, and step aside to reveal....

"Iroh!" Katara gasps softly. The old man looks his age for once, and if his heavy limp and weighed down manner are any indication, feels it too.

"Behold!" proclaims Long Feng. "The prize of our battle, that will bring the Fire Lord right to our humble abode." Katara wants to punch him. Hard. More than once. This is not his abode and never will be.

The crowd cheers, and Long Feng nods to the Dai Li. A strangely shaped pillar is produced from the ground. When Katara realized what it is for, she actually gets up to go down to the temple before she realized there is no way there without an earthbender. Or an airbender. She stuffed her hand over her mouth, stifling her sobs as Iroh is chained, still standing, to the pillar, and watches in horror as he hangs weakly from the chains.

A small consolation is offered by the fact that he is still alive. As the crowd makes its way inside, except for a few who stay to mock Iroh, she waits. She waits until the last people has made their way in, but not before bending their spit away from Iroh so that it does not hit him directly. Luckily, the novice soldiers do not notice. As she bends water from the fountain into Iroh's mouth he looks up weakly. She sees him forming the words "Thank you" but is terrified at the fact that his eyes do not focus and that he is looking in the wrong direction. Once Iroh's thirst is quenched, she takes off running for their hideout, tears streaming down her face and nearly blinding her the whole way there.

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"It's bad," Toph is on her feet instantly. Katara is coming within range of her feet. She is running, with her heartbeat unnaturally high. For an instant Toph is ready for battle, but then she realizes there is no one following Katara. She swallows, and feels as though pieces of glass are making their way down her throat.

As Katara grows rapidly closer, Toph can hear strange hiccupy sounds, and realizes Katara is crying. She does not mention anything when Katara stops a distance away from them, and her heartbeat slows to a rate only slightly higher than normal. When Katara speeds into the clearing in the forest where they are hiding, she is out of breath, but otherwise perfectly composed, and Toph decides to let her maintain her facade of calmness.

Katara only says two words - "He's there." Instantly Zuko is on his feet and running. Toph bends a small piece of earth into his way but he jumps over it, and moves past a larger piece. Miraculously avoiding even the wall of rock, he is only stopped by the large amount of ice that Katara shoots at him, freezing him to a tree. This is only momentary, before he manages to melt it in a large blast of fire.

He begins to run again in the direction Katara has come from, but is halted by an unexpected obstacle. Turning slightly, he realizes that Katara has tackled his waist, and is holding on with an iron grip. She is half-lying on top of him. He is completely nonplussed, but this only holds him for a moment. He twists and begins to rise, but Katara holds on. Despite the extra weight, he manages to get up.

"Katara, let go of me or I _will_ hurt you." His voice is cold. He begins to sprint again, she is unable to hold on. He is stopped when he realizes he is surrounded by a rock cage.

_"TOPH!"_

"Shut up, or you'll lead them right to us." She's not even joking, or doing it to annoy him. Zuko fumes for a while (literally). Then he realizes they're right.

As Katara explains the full extent of the situation to the other two (she leaves out some parts, or the rock cage won't be enough to hold Zuko back from getting himself killed), Zuko grows quiet. They want him to come to them...and he will. Just not in the same way that they want him to. He will come and destroy them. Slowly and painfully. And he will enjoy it. He's never killed anyone before, mostly out of respect for Aang's beliefs and a certain feeling of his own that it may not be the right thing to do.

But for these people, the worst that he can do is too good for them.

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**Chapter title has nothing to do with the book series! I promise the next chapter is MUCH longer :) And I HATE doing this to Iroh, but it's needed. No fear, the real Iroh is feasting on tea with me somewhere in Ba Sing Se. This is just a body double ;)  
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	17. Chapter Sixteen: Worthwhile

**Hi. Sorry. Going for a month, will see y'all on 20th April! :) Read and review!  
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**Song is **Imagine **by **John Lennon**. One of my favorites. **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=okd3hLlvvLw

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**Chapter Sixteen** - Worthwhile

"He'll be here in two weeks."

"That's too long!"

"I _know,_ Zuko." Toph's patience wears thin. "We _will _have to do something before that, and if you stop _clucking_ we can figure out what that is."

Zuko checks his hot retort at the thought that fighting is wasting time. Every second counts.

Katara intervenes in the hope of getting the conversation towards a more productive plane. "What if we take them out in small groups? When they're on patrol or something?"

Toph shoots down the idea. "They would notics they were gone back at 'headquarters' and they would send a large group out to look for us and take _us_ out."

Zuko thinks. "What if Haru's army earthbends their way here or something? Could it be quicker?"

"He needs at least a week and a half to get them together, Zuko," Katara responds. "They'll get here as fast as they can after that."

"Call me crazy..." Toph ignores Zuko's response ("I will"), and continues. "What if..."

After Toph explains her idea, Katara disagrees on the grounds that Toph is insane and she wants to kills them. Toph finds support from an unexpected quarter, although he makes some changes to Toph's initial idea, adding specific disguises to their plan. Finally, Katara turns their plan into something she can agree with - making sure they don't _all_ pretend to be soldiers - and they are ready to begin preparations to enter the enemy camp in disguise.

* * *

"This is crazy," Katara mutters to herself, not daring to say it loudly enough. She knows it's probably the right thing to do. Still, it's uncomfortable to have all her hair tucked into a covering barely the size of her hand. It feels heavy and hot on top of her head. A helmet bended by Toph lies on top of it, further increasing her discomfort. She is even wearing the thick uniform of the Fire Nation Army. Who knows where Toph gets her resources? The rest of her figure is concealed with tight bindings. She consoles herself with the thought that Zuko is in even more discomfort than her, although Toph has the same disguise as her and seems unfazed.

Zuko fumes to himself. He is wearing a headscarf wrapped around his head, in the style of the sandbenders, so that only part of his eyes can be seen, effectively hiding his scar. However, his scarf is red and silken (again, thanks to Toph's sources) and he wears a loose red robe that hangs down to his feet, hiding his figure. From a certain angle, he might look like a woman, and the rolled up pieces of cloth at his chest help with the illusion.

He knows he should have thought of something else. But Katara came up with the idea, and he was unable to think of any quicker method to hide his scar. He didn't want to waste time...and here he is.

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As they near the camp, they all unconsciously speed up. Immediately before their descent, however, they stop. "Remember what I told you," Toph warns before earthbending them down. It is time to put their luck to the test.

They reach down to find a battalion waiting for them. Katara's fingers itch to summon water, but she tolerates the rough treatment as the soldiers pull their hands behind their backs and push them towards the inner regions of the temple. Zuko receives an unpleasant surprise when a soldier's hands linger too long for comfort on his waist, but he thanks Agni that Katara and Toph have dressed as men. He does not think they are less capable of defending themselves, but he does not underestimate the strength of the forces at their stronghold.

"We've come to join you," Katara says desperately as they are bundled towards what seems to be the center of operations.

"That's what they all say." The guards shove them to the floor and pull off their helmets (fortunately her hair doesn't fall down), but a fellow guard stops them before Zuko's headscarf is removed. "It's the primitive culture."

Katara cranes her neck but cannot make out the figure sitting on the stone throne high above them, and is unable to rise due to the guard sitting on her back. Toph is treated the same way as her, while Zuko is left standing, his hands fastened behind him by stone cuffs suddenly produced by the guard.

"What is your business here?" booms a terrifying voice from the high reaches of the room. Toph strains her ears and recognizes the familiar tones of Long Feng. But her feet provide a greater surprise. She wiggles her toes slightly and realizes that a traitor is present. She feels a sinking feeling in her stomach, experiences the unpleasant sensation of being a coward. She is not afraid of the unexpected traitor, even though his heartbeat is crazed and irregular, she is afraid of the control he wields.

"Bumi," she whispers as the fear is replaced by the more familiar anger. Her next words are louder. "We bring a message from the Green Fox. The message is: Follow the trails of the river and reach among the shallows. Beware of the weeds."

Long Feng ponders for a while and Toph prays that her informants have given them the correct message. "Take these new recruits. Give them rooms. They begin training tomorrow. Leave the girl here." He addresses the three of them now. "One indication that you might be disloyal is enough to ensure your death. You, girl, stay."

Katara's words begin to trip out of her mouth in her hurry to prevent this catastrophe. Zuko is about to speak, but catches himself. He has been told to prevent he is mute if necessary - his voice is impossible to mistake for a woman's. Katara's voice deepens and roughens intentionally as she speaks, and she can be mistaken for a man with a high voice. "She's he-is sister!" She points to Toph. "She's mute and we need to take care of her!"

"Are you questioning my judgement?" Long Feng asks smoothly. Katara does not know how to answer. Long Feng's face moves into something resembling a smile. "Good. I'm not blind, I can see what's going on. You can share a room with the girl. Take her with you. And watch out for the other soldiers, there aren't many women here..."

Zuko is frozen with anger and disbelief before Katara tugs on his hand on her way out and he recalls their mission. Slowly he makes his way out.

Katara and he are shoved into a room not very gently as the door locks behind the guards on their way out. "They don't even trust their own men. Low, disgusting..." Katara begins to mutter to herself in disgust, another frequent habit Zuko has learnt to recognize.

He almost smiles as he begins to remove his headscarf. "_Wait_!" Katara removes the water from her container and freezes it to the door. "Continue. I know we thought we might be able to explore the place at night, but we can't get out of this thing without an earthbender. I'm sorry." Her voice grows soft.

Zuko doesn't respond. He knows Katara is doing her best but the feeling of hate threatens to cloud his judgement. It is best to say nothing before he takes his anger out on Katara.

There is only one bed in the room. "I'll take the floor," Zuko says, but Katara does not allow him to. "They expect the 'female' to take the bed," she explains. "And that's you." A hint of a blush appears on her cheeks as she realizes what Long Feng has assumed about them and exactly how wrong he is.

Zuko leaves his robe on as he gets into the bed - after passing down as many blankets as Katara will take - and his headscarf nearby, just in case they are interrupted early in the morning. They both find it hard to sleep, with Katara worrying about Toph, and Zuko about Iroh.

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Morning comes with a start, as the door is earthbended open with a slam and Katara hastily bundles up her hair as Zuko covers his face with the scarf. Katara stands up in a hurry. "Wh-what?" It comes out slightly high and the guard squints at her before her next words are unnaturally deep.

"Your first day of training," he says shortly. No one smiles here unless it is a smile of pleasure at someone else's misfortune. "Leave the girl here, she'll be safe. Long Feng gave us orders not to come to the room while she's her on pain of death." Katara worries for a second that Long Feng might come in here, but decides that Zuko can defend himself against Long Feng alone.

Katara is about to leave the room after putting on her helmet and armor before she rushes back  
to Zuko and hugs him. The guards laugh nastily and pull on Katara's helmet, dragging her out, but not before she manages to whisper, "Don't talk! Try and explore if you can."

Zuko is left in the room, strangely alone and wondering how to spend his day. He doesn't wonder any more as one of the walls to his room collapses inward. He sends out a blast of fire, somewhat involuntarily, as Toph steps out from the dust, wearing her outfit, except for the helmet. She blocks it as usual.

"Well, what do you know?" she says. "They did put me in the room next to yours. Shouldn't let them know I'm an earthbender then." A wave and the wall is restored, although the cracks are almost noticeable. "My training doesn't begin until tomorrow, apparently. Want to explore?"

For once, Zuko's anger with Toph completely disappears. "Is that even a question? Let's go." He moves to shed his headscarf, but Toph senses the movement.

"That stays," she says, enjoying torturing Zuko. "We don't want anyone finding out who you are, just in case they catch us."

And the annoyance is back. But these days, every second counts for Zuko, he refuses to spend time arguing with Toph. "Let's go," he says impatiently.

They spend the day exploring the temple, but beyond informing Iroh of their presence, are unable to discover much, as there are classes in almost all the rooms, and the deserted rooms do not hold much but weapons. Fortunately, the enemy don't have blasting jelly. But they may as well have.

What Zuko and Toph hear of their classes is terrifying enough. Some are ominously silent, but others are even worse.

"Now, for the final test. This is the ultimate fight. Attack your classmates. The last one left alive passes. No compassion or mercy, or you will be destroyed immediately."  
"Remember, we're saving the world. And your families will be paid for any harm you undergo."  
"The Avatar was killed for our cause. He fought for us!"  
"The Fire Lord's army killed Princess Yue brutally!"  
"The Earth Kingdom is destroyed because of the war the Fire Nation started."

Toph has to be forcibly restrained at times from revealing herself, whereas Zuko only resists the urge due to his overwhelming need to save Iroh from this place. He is under almost constant guard, the time that Katara gave him water seems to have been an anomaly. Zuko hasn't even been able to see Iroh yet. Toph does not let them go above ground, telling Zuko that it will be bad for him. All she does is move her stance slightly (she is making Iroh's pillar more comfortable, although she doesn't tell Zuko this, for he will try and burn his way out from underground and blow their cover), refusing to allow Zuko to even glimpse Iroh. She understands Katara's feelings now. She is as upset about the situation as Zuko, but if she doesn't want to get themselves as well as Iroh killed, she must just do the best for him that she can for now.

They return to their respective rooms through tunnels Toph carves (and fills up, there are many earthbenders here) only just in time. Zuko's door is bended open just as he sits on the bed, trying to conceal the fact that he is out of breath.

Katara walks in, alone this time, as Zuko celebrates the opportunity for further exploration the door closes behind her. He takes off his headscarf in relief, and she gasps. "Traitor!" with viciousness, drawing out water and attacking him with five whips at the same time.

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**All chapter titles are now prompts from Zutara-Eternity on Deviantart. Katara, Zuko and Toph's conversation about how to destroy the organization has my initial ideas on how they would go about it - you can see potential story ideas there!**


	18. Chapter Seventeen: More Than This

**I promised I'd be back, and I'm only 10 (now 11) days late :) Here's some Toph-centric fun. If you can call it that...  
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**The song this chapter is **Yellow **by **Coldplay**. Find it here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=qI8I6qcxWyU

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**Chapter Seventeen** - More Than This

Toph hears disturbances in the room next door. However her feet tell her it's only Katara, and she leaves Zuko to handle it, especially as when she last passed through the wall she felt the cracks, and that meant soon other people would be able to notice them. Besides, Zuko and Katara can handle each other better than others can handle them. She wonders what has set Katara off, in an idle way that helps her forget about her more pressing anger.

The moment she entered the temple, she had realized that Aang did not lie there. He had once, she recognized his familiar lightness of being even when laid down in death. But now, she could not sense his presence, as she used to be able to. He was simply gone. She had experienced this terrifying sensation only a few times before, not being able to feel him. Normally, Aang had never been far enough from her for her not to feel his steps. It sounded strange, but his customary lightness of stepping was comforting. Everytime she felt his toes touch the ground - unlike other people, he seemed to fly, with only his toes touching the ground at most times - she experienced a strange sensation which felt the closest to home she had ever felt. In her _actual _home with its stifling atmosphere she had never been able to conjure up feelings of devotion and attachment, yet with Aang these emotions simply appeared. She wasn't devoted to him or anything. She just felt happy with him.

It suddenly crashed down on her that she would never feel his steps again. She had only ever felt this depth of emotion once before, when Katara told her about Aang's death. At that time she had collapsed sobbing, unable for once to restrain her feelings. Soon, she was able to tamp them down and stop her assassination mission for Zuko after she discovered that he was not to blame.

But she had never been able to shake her despair and despondency entirely and turn it into a more manageable ache. People told her time would help, but over a year had passed and nothing had changed. For some reason, she blamed Katara. Not for Aang's death, but for the fact that some part of her was not able to move past it. With Katara displaying her grief in such an obvious way it had seemed to Toph to be in some way inappropriate. Katara had once flung the accusation (when they were both _very_ full of melancholy tears, although in Katara's case they were spilling out from inside her onto her face) of Toph being heartless at her, and Toph's lack of reaction had seemed to prove it. Katara had never realized that Toph's lack of reaction was merely a twisted parody of her own plateau of emotionlessness. Neither had Toph. Perhaps it was for the better.

Now Katara seemed to be gaining some kind of normality, as much as could be possible under the circumstances. Toph would not call herself jealous. She was truly as happy as she could be about Katara's return to the world of the living. But not being part of it herself she could not fully appreciate it. Toph had turned into one of those terrible _bonsai_ trees her father used to keep, she could feel the twisted, stunted branches of the trees through the earth that she would swear was wailing, but which people called beautiful. They never realized how terribly wrong it was.

Toph's mind, meanwhile, was planning in great detail the _many_ ways she would disembowel Bumi and Long Feng. She had not known Bumi well, but his erratic heartbeat told her that he was both insane and dangerous. And the kind of place he was running here! Only her recently (in the last year) developed sense of self control had prevented her from jumping out from the tunnels they had created within the walls and challenging everyone in the temple to fight her. She did not know what they had done with Aang's body, but she had heard two soldiers boasting to each other in bored tones that they had taken it out of the tomb she had made (she alone knew what it had cost her) and given it to Long Feng and he had been especially pleased. Toph's diamond hard (this is the hardest rock she knows) iron resolve threatens to crumble, and she only gains it back somewhat through the merciful intervention of hearing two other soldiers boasting to have given it to Bumi. It had become clear that none of the lower ranks had any idea what had happened to Aang.

She and Zuko do not get along as well as they used to either. After watching the play in Ember Island, she had felt the bond grow between them and they seemed ready to become close friends. Yet they had lost touch since Aang had left them. No, he had not left. He had been snatched from them, despite their best attempts. Since then she had had no desire to spend time with anyone other than her most shady contacts and the Boulder, whose mindless arrogance provided amusement and distraction.

Their time in the Temple had only caused conflict between them. While Toph loved Pops, they both were equally intent on different goals, which could not fail but to cause some conflict. Interestingly, instead of the other way around, Toph was the more cautious and planned one.

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**Bonsai trees - look them up! I personally find them terrible but some love them...  
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**In other news, someone on deviantart (Artelils) got my 100th review, even though it wasn't signed, I knew her on dA, and decided to give it to her. She got a gift drabble. Some sweet Sokki, which I may post soon. Yes or no?**


	19. Chapter Eighteen: Rhythm

**Well. Read. Song is (although I'm sure almost no one listens) **Just Stand Up** by **a lot of people :)**. And I know what you're going to say, but in a weird way it suits this chapter. Find here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=tfbxxd01mzk** . A special thanks once more to all reviewers :)  


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**Chapter Eighteen** - Rhythm

Zuko is shocked enough that it takes him longer than usual to recover, and he is soon kicking himself for that hesitation. There has been a time when he would accept attacks from Katara as part of a daily routine, but he had assumed that time was behind him now. And this wild, fearsome Katara is somewhat unlike what she was before, even in her worst moods.

The three precious seconds he loses while gaping at Katara's words allow her to whip him painfully a few times, and he realizes that he is frozen to the wall. A few bursts of fire from his hands and feet allow him to melt himself free, and a quick one sent Katara's way swallows the yell she seems to be about to give. She quickly knocks off her helmet (which has probably grown painfully hot). He is assiduously quiet, even the sting of the whips did not cause him to utter more than a sigh.

He can feel Katara and him settling into rhythm, whenever they fight they have some kind of pattern, they have done it so many times they know each other's moves. Yet this time Katara breaks the rhythm with some erratic moves, which is when he realizes something is wrong. She is not simply angry. This is perhaps the only thing that enables him to be given the advantage. In their other battles, the score is 38 to 37 in her favor, and they are even. Their battles generally last for a long time with the victor only narrowly achieving victory. This is usually caused by some sort of luck or an unfair advantage created by sunrise or moonrise. It has been a while since he fought Katara properly and he can see that the six months or so (after the 'anger' phase in her stages of grieving) that she has not worked hard at her bending he has gained the advantage.

The year he spent as Fire Lord has not done him any great favors either. He thanks Agni that Iroh had insisted on at least half an hour of practice every day despite his work and fights with a fresh burst of strength as he realizes that Iroh depends on him now. The room is almost made entirely out of stone, but he has to be careful about lighting the bed on fire. The smoke would almost certainly kill them both or get them given away.

Avoiding the octopus water formation Katara has formed (she's advanced beyond the pentapus stage) becomes a cumbersome task. Zuko sends a blast of fire to evaporate the water and almost just as quickly Katara snatches it back from the air again. He realizes there is a brief interval between this period and repeats his move, ready this time to take advantage of it. He has calculated that knocking her out is not the best move, since there is nothing in the room to restrain her with. Obviously Long Feng's people have designed their rooms to prevent rebellion of any kind. Instead, he lunges at her, knocking her down, locking his hands with hers and slamming them back against the floor so she is reduced to immobility. She struggles furiously, but his weight pins her down. As she opens her mouth to scream, he speedily drags her left hand down over her mouth and stifles the sound.

A brief tinge of remorse strikes him when he realizes he is probably heavy, but he saves that for when Katara is back to herself. He runs through the possibilities. He has never seen anything like this. What had happened on her day at 'training'? There had to be some kind of indoctrination to which Katara had fallen victim. He did not believe she would willingly subscribe to the school of thought followed by these people. But...she had believed him to be responsible for Aang's death previously. Perhaps these people had put into words all her previous fears and had some sort of fabricated 'proof' to back it up.

Fear crashes through Zuko and he begins to gabble. He knows she does not believe him but at least she is listening. She stops her persistent attempts to scream for help from her 'comrades' and assumes a somewhat intelligent expression.

"Listen to yourself! You know they've brainwashed you somehow into listening to them. Remember, we're friends...I helped you with Azula and you saved my life and I helped you when you were with the pirate captain and we're _friends_!"

She seems confused, her brow crinkles but abruptly clears. He realizes her plan almost too late and is able to evaporate the ice. Water splashes over both of them, and after further struggling he restrains her again. Although she is a skilled fighter, he is physically stronger. The water seems to have disoriented her somehow. Strangely enough, she struggles to get her element away from her. It seems to be having an unpleasant effect. Zuko gasps as he recognizes the blue glow on her head from the countless times she has healed those in the old days at the Western Air Temple. His hand involuntarily moves to his scar. He slowly rises, anxious about what exactly has happened to Katara.

Her eyes close and he bends over speedily and shakes her, but she does not wake. Truly distressed, he whispers urgently at her but she does not wake. He hopes for Toph to come in (surely she must have felt them) but does not dare to yell to her. He does not know Toph is in the throes of a deeply personal grief from which she sees no recovery and will not be coming. He paces, wonders whether to call for help. Deciding against it, he turns to see that she has risen and prepares to fight her once more. To his surprise, she appears confused and does not attack. Recognizing her as the true Katara, he gently guides her to the bed, waiting patiently for her to recount her tale. Eventually he grows impatient, "What happened?" and receives a reply that is halting and discursive.

"I...think I was brainwashed. They took me to the room I saw in..." she whispers the next word which Zuko recognizes with a start, "Jet's mind. And I don't remember." Eventually he gets the full story from her. They try to think of plans for avoiding the daily ritual she is sure to undergo, although Katara believes they may not repeat it. Zuko disagrees. "The moment they become even a _little _suspicious they will repeat it. And we can't fight every day, and I don't know if I'll always win..."

At another time Katara would have cherished the acknowledgment that they are equally capable fighters, but this time her teasing is qualified by their situation. "I think I could waterbend somehow to prevent it..."

"I can tell you that won't work," drawls a familiar voice from the door they now realize has not been sealed by them and thus was easily able to be opened. Zuko scrambles for his headscarf but it is too far and at the same time Katara realizes her helmet is a half-melted mess that is also out of reach and the person at the door has probably already seen them. They look up tentatively, ready for battle and wondering why they have not been attacked. The wall next to them collapses as Toph smashes her way through. She acts quicker than them. Quickly propelling the person into the room, she bends the door shut and seals it to prevent unwanted interruptions.

Although he is slightly unbalanced by being knocked into the room, he quickly straightens himself and smiles at all those present. Toph restrains him with earth gloves, and only then she speaks. "Is this..."

Katara shakes herself slightly. "It's Jet!" she says in a mixed tone, not sure whether to be happy or upset that he's probably raised the alarm on them or furious at his being in a place that is the opposite of everything he claimed to be a part of.

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**Writing this chapter made me squeeeeeee! Jet is one of my absolutely favorite characters (right up there with Zuko, Toph, Katara, Aang, Sokka and Iroh ;) )**

**I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Thank you once again to all my lovely reviewers!**

**Reviews are chicken (or vegetable) soup for the author's soul...  
**


	20. Chapter Nineteen: Thieves

**Welcome back. Thank me for the quick update. I got many reviews, so I was happy! See how reviews inspire me? Song is **Liquid Dance **by **A.R. Rahman **(Reh-man not Rakh-man) from **Slumdog Millionaire**. Find it here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=oGAm1pJfUT4

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**Chapter Nineteen** - Thieves

Both Zuko and Katara have, for once, nothing at all to say. Toph, on the other hand has more than enough for both of them. Ashamed of her moment of weakness and strengthened by her anger for Long Feng and Bumi, she lets it out in a barrage of words, occasionally accompanies by a rock or two. She ignores the fact that it does not help at all with the gnawing feeling inside her. It seems that it will take more than beating up people to help her deal with her grief.

"What do you want? Why are you here? Where's your team? Who did you tell us about? Weren't you meant to be a _Freedom_ Fighter?" The last bit was sneered in utter contempt. Jet seemed to be about to speak, but by this time Katara had recovered from her shock.

"If you think for _one _minute that what you are doing here is right then you are wrong. Do you have any idea what these people _do?_" she threatens in a tone Zuko has never heard her use on anyone else but him. She collects her water, moving it towards Jet and encapsulating his head, but realizes that he does not need healing. "You're here out of your own _free will_? What happened to fighting for truth and _justice _and _oh, we believe in our cause so much we'll burn down a fire nation village_. I'll freeze you to all the trees in the earth kingdom before I let you ruin our cause! What was the point of you almost dying for us if you were going to turn out like this? I wouldn't have spent all that time _mourning _for you, wondering if you were _all right. _I don't know why I bothered. Have you told anyone else about us?" With every word, she moves closer to Jet and gathers water, freezing it into new weapons so that when she reaches him she resembles a porcupine-bear. Jet's nonchalant air slips a little and he looks to Zuko in what is as close to pleading as he can get, currently being gagged by a glove of earth.

As Katara tosses her helmet to Toph to bend back into shape, Zuko rises from the bed, examining the facts. Katara and Jet had known each other, that much he had learned from the Ember Island Players. However, he had doubted that the facts were as the Players had portrayed them. "You burned down a Fire Nation village?" he asks, a familiar anger pulsing through his veins. It does fit in with Jet's pattern of over-zealous attacks against the Fire Nation - he had tried to unmask Zuko and Iroh, which the play had not known.

"Well, he would have if Sokka hadn't got the people out!" Katara almost shouts before realizing her location and softening her tone. "The rest of us didn't realize." Zuko feels yet another in many rushes of gratitude towards his friend Sokka and his anger tapers down.

"Let him talk," he orders, slipping into the role of a leader without realizing it. Toph looks mutinous. "You're not the boss of me," she mutters, but eventually (agonizingly slowly, Zuko's nerves threaten to fray) removes the glove.

Jet smiles around at the room seemingly in perfect joy at meeting them all, until his equanimity is slightly disturbed by Katara dumping rokus* of water on his head. "Katara! Zuko! Even little Toph! Nice to see you." The water splashes over him again, but he just smiles at Katara. "Fiery as ever, I see. Not even a hello for an old friend?" The third emptying of water over his head does not affect his good humor, but Toph's terse whisper-shouted "TALK!" does inspire him to come to the point.

"Don't worry, I haven't told anyone about you. I'm on a mission like you too. I haven't brought 'Bee and 'Shot because they're on their honeymoon, and it isn't safe for them. But when we heard about this army, I knew that I had to get in there somehow." His face is slowly assuming the seriousness Katara and Zuko remember from when he was on missions. "And Long Feng is running this thing, and we all know how much I like him." His mouth twists in a grim yet still attractive, Katara realizes with a small shock, smile.

"After they messed with my brain that time, I resolved no one would _ever_ get in my mind again. Except you, Katara." A small smile to her. "So the Duke's friend Teo's dad managed to invent these things that you put in your eye that reflect the light somehow so you don't get caught by their lights."

Katara is confused by this new Jet. He's not as immature as the old Jet, but looks much the same, except for trimming his hair a little and wearing a new, green uniform. He's still fond of jokes, but seems to be more noble and care more for others. He's rather...attractive, she realizes. Meanwhile, another part of her mind tries to reconcile itself to the fact that Smellerbee and Longshot, who seem too young somehow to be married, are on their honeymoon. She does some sums and realizes they're both twenty-one or so** (Smellerbee was always tiny for her age), more than of age to be married in most kingdoms.

Toph doesn't seem to believe Jet, but admits that his feet are telling the truth. Trying to cling to the fact that he might have been 'misled' by the Dai Li despite Katara's reassurances that he has not been "brainwashed, as you call it", she fires more questions at him, hoping to catch him out.

"How do you know Zuko? How did you know that we were here? Who let you in our room? You need to earthbend the door." Zuko is slightly annoyed at the fact that Toph has caught this and he has not, but reminds himself he is on a mission, not an ego trip.

"I met Zuko in the Earth Kingdom with his uncle while he was undercover. He joined our fighters for a while before I realized they were Fire Nation. I tried to reveal them to the Dai Li, but they took me away instead. I recognized Katara's face when they removed her helmet in the Court Room, it's hard not to remember her." He winks. "Nice costume, Zuko. And you don't have to earthbend the door, there's a button on the left side three steps away from the door that opens it." Toph confirms all this with her feet. She remains slightly skeptical. Still, she removes the restraints on him.

Katara seems to be blushing (oddly enough), notices Zuko. He decides he would like to know the history that they seem to share with Jet. Perhaps the Ember Island Players had not got it completely wrong. However, there are more pressing needs which he deals with first. "Do you have more of Teo's father's inventions?" he asks.

Jet produces some shiny objects from a box in one of his voluminous pockets. After demonstrating how to use them, he hands one pair each to Zuko and Katara. "What, I don't get one?" Toph questions sarcastically but he only laughs.

Katara deals with her mixed emotions and realizes anger still prevails. How can he be in such good humor after she worried so much about him? Why does she still feel so _young_ around him? She had told herself after the time she froze him to a tree that she hated him and felt nothing for him, but the next time she had seen him she had still felt a rush of feeling. And in this case, the last time she had seen Jet he had done nothing but good. So her feelings for him had been tender.

"Fine. You can help us." Zuko is curt, but thankful. Jet seems to have inside knowledge of this place, which is what they desperately need. Toph is about to argue at his tone, but is suddenly overwhelmingly tired and retires to her room with nothing but a "Mend the wall". A little bit of paste-like substance produced by Jet (is there nothing he doesn't have in those pockets?) soon repairs the cracks. Katara is distracted from her thoughts of Jet by Toph's unexpected compliance and decides they need to talk.

"Come on Katara," Jet smiles, and she sits down abruptly to discuss their plans, her mind a whirl with the unexpected occurrences of the day and (if she would admit it) a tiny bit of feeling for Jet.

**

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*a unit of measurement in the Fire Nation. 1 roku = about 1.5 litres  
**cut me a little slack with this one, I changed their ages.

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**More to come, this will all make a little more sense soon. I think Katara's very IC in this chapter for as she is in the show, but since the story is a bit AU, she's a bit OOC from what she's supposed to be. Never mind, what I'm saying will all make sense soon :)**

**I had to re-write some bits of this chapter after remembering the Ember Island players and the fact that Zuko probably knows most of Katara's history with Jet as a result.**


	21. Chapter Twenty: Skill

**This chapter's song is **Are You Gonna Be My Girl?** by, appropriately enough, **Jet**! Find it here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=mAxUIjJrFKQ **This is one of my favorite songs, and I'm glad it was the perfect song for this chapter.

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**Chapter Twenty** - Skill

Katara is _not_ a stupid, silly, romantic girl. That's what she tells herself. She doesn't feel suddenly like a child when she sees Jet. She doesn't think that the little bit of stubble he has is attractive at all. She tells herself this, and she just wishes she would believe and follow it. What is wrong with her? She has never been like this about a boy, only Jet somehow seems to _still _inspire this mix of hero-worship and adoration in her. He has some kind of skill at it.

She should be over him. She has met many other boys in the course of her travels. Not that she was necessarily interested, but she's met Haru and many others, and she was perfectly fine with them. Sure, Haru had been good looking (_before_ mustache, always before). Katara had contemplated the idea sometimes that he would confess his love after she had helped him. But outwardly she had always been perfectly sensible and friendly.

But with Jet...Spirits! She had even made a flowery headgear for him once and failed to recognize how ridiculous it was. That is how _ridiculous_ she is! And when she is around him, she seems to become one of those girls who talk in italics and never even notice anything but boys.

She gives herself a firm shake but stops abruptly when Zuko looks up in concern. She is going crazy. She probably looks like she is having a fit. A heavy blush rises to her face. She has not blushed like this since....that Jun lady had insinuated that she had been having an affair with Zuko. Grabbing at the chance to take her thoughts anywhere but Jet, she recalls with fondness all the adventures they had got up to. She still can't think of _his_ name, but she can think with joy of the times they had shared, and that is how she mourns him.

Jet smiles at her and her thoughts crash back to him again. She has no idea what he is smiling at her about, or what they have been discussing. What is _wrong_ with her? She has traveled so much since she had last met Jet, she had thought she had matured. (The year she has spent mourning _him_ is now a blip. She doesn't think of it as part of her life, just an aberration.) She has been through so much! She has been on a journey, has found the man who had killed her mother, and defeated Azula. She is NOT an immature girl who laughs at every little thing he says. She quickly wipes the inane grin off her face.

Dragging her mind back to focusing on the conversation, she realizes that Jet and Zuko have ambitious plans. They are both similar in that way, when intent on a purpose, will do anything to achieve it. Both have been on both the good and the bad sides of the war, and have been equally passionate and believed in whatever they have been doing. Their hair is even somewhat similar, cementing the countless similarities between them. Possibly the only real difference between them is the fact that Sokka likes Zuko, and has never really got along with Jet. She wonders why.

There she went again. Zuko has noticed that Katara's attention has been flagging throughout the conversation, which is unusual for her. She has also been blushing seemingly erratically and appears quite agitated. Zuko has observed that this might have had something to do with the fact that Jet has been shooting her melting looks every few moments. Of course, Jet is of the type that don't quite know how powerful those looks are, but have some idea. Still, his affection for Katara seems to be genuine. Zuko just wishes he would choose some other place to show it so that they can work on the plan!

After a few more minutes of eyelash-batting from Jet and Katara, Zuko gives up. With a tired "We'll discuss this tomorrow," he retreats to the bed. Jet and Katara murmur to each other for a while, before he hears the door slide shut as Jet leaves.

* * *

What Jet had said last night was that he would supervise Katara's training. True to his word, the next day as Katara is apprehensively entering the room she remembers from the previous day, Jet sweeps past her surprised supervisor and informs him that Katara has been singled out to receive special training. The instructor does not question the validity of his story, as somehow Jet has been able to gain a position of authority in this organization.

So when Jet whispers to her that he has managed to get Iroh moved to a cell, which will at least be more comfortable than his previous position, and is sneaking him food, Katara believes that there are no limits to the adoration she holds for Jet. Although this will make it harder to rescue Iroh, she would much rather that he was comfortable while they tried to figure out how to bring down the organization. She does not question Jet's loyalty. After all, Toph had said he was telling the truth. And even if he has fooled the organization, he cannot have fooled Toph.

She walks with Jet through deserted corridors, hardly aware of where they are going, only enjoying the fact that she is with him. He is like the childhood ideal she has had while growing up in the South Pole, where eligible boys did not exist. He is handsome and good and kind...there she goes again. She quickly catches herself and a look of coherence comes on her face.

Jet feels genuine affection for Katara. She is always the one who saves him - back in the forest she had saved him from drowning a village, and she saved him from Long Feng's control. He had only emerged from that remembering the times he shared with his Freedom Fighters and with her. He might be wrong, but he thinks that she likes him too and he feels grateful that for once something in his life is going well. He deserves it.

She smiles at him and he grins back, slightly shy. They are now in a part of the temple where he knows no members of the organization come, and he is grateful for the privacy. He has changed a lot from the arrogant boy he had once been, after seeing near and dear ones around him injured. Smellerbee had barely gotten away with her life once, and although that adventure ended happily with the marriage of 'Bee and Longshot, he had learned his lesson and is cautious with those he cares for.

She is independent, but he knows she still needs taking care of, and she proves this the next second by stumbling and is about to crash loudly to the floor, when he catches her. He is embarassed by the cliche, but he does not blush. His encounters with her seem to involve cliches and he cringes internally when he recalls how he pulled her up to the trees with him once.

Blushing as he pulls her up, Katara is even more humiliated when she realizes he is always rescuing her in this fashion. Further mortification ensues on the discovery of how close they are. Just as Katara feels her cheeks are about to explode, a strange look appears on Jet's face as he smiles slightly, bends down, and kisses her.

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**A break from all the doom and gloom with a Jetara interlude. I actually like this couple now (while writing this story) more than I used to! This chapter took me SO long to write...relying heavily screenshots number 21, 29, 45 and 48 from the episode screenshots of 'Jet' on AvatarspiritDOTnet**

**Just curious, have a few observant readers picked out something...odd this chapter?  
**


	22. Chapter Twenty One: Dare

**It's been so long since I updated that I'm not even going to apologize, just sit back resignedly and assume most of you have forgotten/ lost interest in the story.**

**Obviously, I STILL don't own Avatar.**

**The song this time around (made me think) is **Mausam & Escape **by **A.R. Rahman **from the **Slumdog Millionaire **soundtrack (yes, AGAIN a song from there). Find it here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=jwM0UKQnm9o

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**Chapter Twenty One** - Dare

"Go on, I dare you."

"Do you _want_ Jet to kill you?"

"But it's practically a tradition!"

"It's your funeral."

"We can't have a new guy, especially one who thinks he's so great and who _Jet _likes so much that he takes him off for special training, _not _go through the hazing ritual."

"I prefer to call it induction, Ruon Jian. You know that!"

Zuko dives hastily under the bed at the first sign of voices, but realizes this may not be the best recourse. After all, people expect him to be in the room, and it would be suspicious if he disappeared. There is nowhere for him to go without Toph anyway, and her training has begun that day. They do not need to worry about her being brainwashed, there's no way she can look into the light. And through the helmet, no one will be able to tell that she can't see.

Hastily scrambling for his headscarf, he wraps it clumsily round his head in a rush as the door opens. Adjusts it hastily so there's an uneven gap that gives his damaged left eye greater room to see with and nearly covers his right eye. He realizes he's done more harm than good due to his greatly limited visibility, but ceases to think about this upon realization of the latest entries to the room.

_It can't be_ is his first thought. He lifts the right side of his headscarf and realizes his eyes are not actually deceiving him. Impossible though it seems, it is actually the two idiots who held the party in Ember Island. Chad and Rin Jon, he thought, but apparently the one with his hair down was called Ruon Jian. He supposed he might have gotten the other one's name wrong.

They were staring at him with comical expressions. "Who are you?"

Zuko starts off in his normal voice, turns it into a protracted cough, continuing in an unnaturally high squeak. Pretending to be mute will only harm the situation. "I'm Taro's sister," he stutters, almost letting out a giggle at the reaction that the person in the shapeless sack and headscarf is a girl produces in the two boys.

Chan hastily slicks back his hair, "Ah, we were just here to welcome our new friend Keita, right Ruon Jian?" The other boy's manner resembles that of a jaded celebrity. "Yeah," he sighes.

"So, we'll just continue then," Chan says. Zuko almost snorts at his arrogance, _like Agni you will_ but realizes he has no real control over the situation without putting everything into peril. He fills his mind with an image of Iroh to prevent him from lunging at the boys as they rifle through the meager possessions that Zuko and Katara have brought with them. He is not worried that there is anything incriminating there, they are not that unprepared for a sudden raid, but that his temper will snap and he will reveal his identity.

As the boys leave, barely concealing their new-found possessions behind their backs, Katara enters dizzily. She's in full uniform, including helmet, but Zuko knows her walk by now. No matter how hard she tries, this is the one thing about her that gives away her gender. She pulls up short on seeing the two boys, but continues slowly into the room as she sees their hasty exit.

"Friends?" she asks Zuko after the door closes. He almost chokes in his fury, but manages to spit out his answer.

"I get it, okay? You're not friends. Relax," Katara smiles. "It's just that you looked alike." Caught off guard, Zuko realizes, if not for his scar he would resemble the two boys, and feels for a moment gratefulness to Ozai (whom he no longer thinks of as his father) for preventing him from becoming the spoilt heir he would certainly have been if he had not set off to find the Avatar. Drawing his mind away from a chain of thought he does not want to enter, he recalls Katara's entrance into the room.

"Are you faint?" he asks. He notices a red flush on her cheeks and wonders if she's caught a chill. Although the oppressively hot weather at the temple makes this seem unlikely, it _does_ get cold inside at night. "If you're sick, maybe you shouldn't train tomorrow."

"I'm fine," snaps Katara, regretting it immediately as she blows out the candles and lies down on her makeshift bed on the ground.

Shortly after, a whispered "I'm sorry" is almost inaudible, but Zuko hears it and his lips curve into a slight smile. They sleep.

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**Author's note: Oh Zuzu, you're such an awkward turtle.**

**Obviously Toph and Katara would have to take male names.  
**

**Taro: A male Japanese name meaning fifth son  
Keita: Male Japanese name meaning glorified (and she is!)**

**Also, I am participating in Zutara week and have ideas for all the prompts so far, but I can't promise all the drabbles will be on time.  
**


	23. Chapter Twenty Two: Mask

**Welcome to Zutara Week! Song is **Isn't It A Pity** by **Nina Simone **and can be found here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=Z2w0Pgbqmok**. I suggest you look up the lyrics :)**

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Chapter Twenty Two** - Mask

She wakes up. Her heart is pounding. She can't tell what's wrong, but her nights have been terror ever since her days became blissful. Her grandmother would have said the Spirits were taunting her, but she knows of nothing she has done wrong. Still, every morning she wakes up with the assurance that she has made a big mistake somewhere, and that she should be doing _something _about it.

She never remembers what the dreams are about, but she has a vague notion that they have something to do with Aang. And caves. Whatever they are, they leave her distracted in the day and unable to focus on Jet's wonderful words.

Her dreams seem to be coming true. By day, she is exempted from training by Jet (she no longer has to wear the devices to prevent brainwashing) and wanders the deserted corners of the temple blissfully with him, talking and occasionally kissing lightly. Jet seems perfectly content, but she can't believe he can't see that she's distracted.

On the other hand, before she was distracted by her dreams she was distracted by his looks, so she supposes he sees no difference now.

She's worried that she's not doing enough for Iroh, but Jet assures her there's not much she can do. He gives Zuko detailed plans of the place, and Zuko (or Zudora, as those who know he exists in the temple know him, though Toph had argued long and hard for Zuzu) sits throughout the day and late into the night doing the brainwork needed for the plan.

What the plan is, Katara has no idea. Toph is making sure she's persistently stupid so that she's staying in the first class she was taken to. Katara makes a note to herself to remind Toph that she should show some sense soon, otherwise Toph will simply be...disposed of, unfit for the cause. Despite this, Toph seems to know more about the plan than Katara. Katara wonders if her guilt is about this.

"Yes," Jet says, but Katara can't remember what question she asked. She smiles at him, amazed once again by his magnificence. He can't get Toph out of classes, but he's helped them enough. He's even promised them a few more people for their plan.

Jet's voice interrupted her again. This time there's anger behind it. "Katara, if you don't agree, you can at least reply!"

"I'm sorry Jet, I just wasn't listening." This doesn't make things better. Jet doesn't like to believe that anyone would ignore him, and they part with harsh words and short tempers.

Zuko could have probably chosen a better night to confront Katara about her lack of involvement in their plan.

"You've not bothered to find out what we're doing, or help out." The focused look is back on his face, the one Katara remembers from years ago, when he followed Aang with this same determination.

Her anger is fueled by the fact that she knows she is wrong. "How do _you_ know what I've been doing?"

"I know that you haven't been pulling your weight."

"Oh, go drown yourself." She almost expects an outburst from him after this remark of hers, but his silence is a little worse. His nose whitens slightly, but there is no further reaction. For a second she wonders, but then realizes that he's not doing this for her, but is keeping silent for the sake of the plan.

He doesn't respond even when she snaps a water whip on his arm. Something restrains her enough not to yell at him, as everything within her urges her to. He simply turns over so that his back is to her. She puts out the light.

Instead of feeling light and happy as she has for the past few days, Katara goes to bed feeling small and mean and ugly and selfish. And her dreams offer no consolation, bringing the same terror and helplessness that she has experienced for the last few days.

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**Can anyone guess what's causing Katara's dreams? A special update for Zutara Week. I'll try to update this story twice during Zutara Week, as well as my entries for each of the prompts. I might even update other stories. You lucky readers! :)**


	24. Chapter Twenty Three: Garbage

**I love this chapter! The song is** Baba O' Riley **by **The Who **- one of my all time favorites. Find it here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=CpU0gco9FDo

**

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Chapter Twenty Three** - Garbage

"Out." The emotionless voice and faceless person in the helmet do not inspire confidence in Zuko, but he follows, unsure of what is coming, and unwilling to risk everything in case they suspect him.

* * *

_"So, after Haru comes we'll put this into action? I'm tired of those brainwashing bozos," Toph said._

_"Yes, I just explained it. We'll wait for him and his army and then we'll..."_

_"Yeah, yeah, we remember the rest." Toph exited the room in her usual manner. Zuko watched her go, a look of resentment on his face. He knew the plan was good, she would have pulled it apart otherwise, but she was completely limiting her interaction with them now. All she had paused to bother to inform them about was Bumi's involvement, which caused not a little anger from Zuko._

_Toph was just so...driven now. She focused on nothing but bringing the organization down. Which was a good aim as far as he was concerned, but the little part of him that was thinking of more than the mission was worried. He did realize that Toph resembled nothing more than himself a few years ago._

_As for Katara, she couldn't get her mind of anything but Jet. It was obvious to (even) Zuko that Katara and Jet had rekindled whatever that ridiculous Ember Island play had portrayed. She seemed unable to focus on anything beyond Jet for more than a few minutes. Although she had never said anything about the evening where he confronted her about it, it stood like an ugly thing between them, and although she co-operated on the details of the plan, there was a curt silence between them._

_Zuko's mind went back to the plan, his current obsession. Every detail was checked against what he knew of the temple, and although he was not a tactician by nature, he could feel in some part of him that there was something inherently _right_ about this plan.

* * *

_

Zuko is pushed along the corridor none-too-carefully, but the way the guard's hands 'accidentally' touch his behind reassure him that he hasn't been found out.

But at his entrance into a small stone room (the guard who escorted him is left at the door), his arms are pulled behind him and his headscarf is pulled off. He struggles desperately, but knows it's too late.

"So, you weren't lying," Bumi cackles from his perch atop a throne that looks as crazy as he does, and a familiar voice answers him. "I don't lie."

"_Mai!_" Zuko whispers, a sound that comes agonizingly slowly, despite the fact that he should be screaming and raging at her.

"Did you think I'd be fine just _advising _you, Zuko?"

He can feel something like his stomach dropping away as he notices Katara being held up next to him, her helmet missing and her hair falling out of it's topknot. The heavy armor of her Fire Nation uniform is missing, and she is clad in the red tunic and pants that he once wore. Thanking Agni for his foresight in wearing the same thing underneath the sack-like garment he wears, despite the heat.

Leaning towards Katara, he looks over her carefully, but there is no damage apart from a bump on her head that explains her unconsciousness. She moves restlessly and wakes with a yell that seems to cause a few pebbles to drop to the floor.

"JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The figure next to Mai winces slightly and Zuko comes to his senses enough to look around to the room. It is undecorated apart from Bumi's makeshift throne, on either side of which Jet and Mai stand, with equally determined expressions on their faces.

Katara struggles wildly against the faceless soldiers holding her back, but more keep appearing as she struggles harder.

"Waaaaaiit," Bumi says. Everyone stops instantly - the soldiers moving towards Katara, Jet moving unconsciously away, Mai examining her fingernails. Katara continues, but even she can't struggle against five soldiers without waterbending, and as her hands are held back this is impossible. "Where's the girl who earthbends?"

Jet speaks for the first time, hoarse yet defiant. "She escaped." There is a moment where Zuko expects Bumi to attack Jet, but he merely cackles. "Long Feng'll get her," he dismisses. Zuko wants to disbelieve, but knows even Toph is no match for an army of earthbenders.

Looking around, Bumi notices Katara hurling abuses at Jet. "Jet, it seems Miss Katara is trying to tell you something."

Katara nearly foams at his words in her hurry to insult him.

Zuko breathes in deeply to bring out his breath of fire, taking advantage of the distraction, but the soldiers holding him back seem to notice and quickly poke something sharp into his arm. He feels a part of him ebbing away, an emptiness he's only felt once when Ty Lee 'accidentally' chi blocked him. A sudden silence informs him that the same has been done to Katara, and he struggles against the soldiers once again. Yet he knows it's no use, he's weak without his fire or his swords.

"Fire Mother Ursa is with the White Lotus, we can't get her," Mai dryly informs Bumi. Some feeling returns to Zuko's veins.

"Ah, yes, the White Lotus. They don't trust me any more unfortunately." Bumi giggles and the sound is so out of place on an old man that sickened, Zuko is finally spurred to speech.

"Aang _trusted_ you, so did Uncle. You're pathetic."

"Not pathetic, merely crazy!" Bumi replies.

A hundred retorts spring into Zuko's mind, but he bites them back in favor of scanning the room for something that could help. The hope is slim, but he tries anyway. There is nothing, and he can't even feel the lanterns flickering in this windowless room any more.

As Katara grows used to the loss of her waterbending and begins screaming at Jet, Mai and Bumi once more, Zuko slips into the tiredness that claims him. His head droops and he wakes up some time later, unable to realize how much time has passed, not knowing anything.

All he realizes is that there is a cool body next to him. Through the dim light from the one candle in the room, he makes out Katara's face. When she does not wake even after he shakes her, he calls her name in panic when his hand that had been under her head comes up covered with a dark, sticky liquid.

"_KATARA_!"

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**Recommended reading: **http://wwwDOTfanfictionDOTnet/s/5321596/1/Her_Name  
**  
Finally, some action. The last few chapters were somewhat filler. And guys, before you wonder about the injection, I'm sure in the Avatar world, with bloodbenders and stuff they've figured out injections.**


	25. Chapter Twenty Four: Calling

**Thanks for all the reviews last chapter - this one is dedicated to wondering-wandering on deviantart. The song for this one is **Shattered **by **Trading Yesterday**. Another favorite! Find it here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=w_LOOKssMpA**

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**Chapter Twenty Four** - Calling

For a moment, everything seems to slow down. Zuko's senses blur in a moment of utter panic, then everything sharpens around him. Running to the ledge, he grabs the candle and brings it over to Katara, dripping some wax to create a makeshift stand for it.

With utmost care, he turns over Katara and examines the wound at the back of her head. It's not deep, he realizes with a breath of relief, but she's lost some blood. Cursing _everyone_ in the place a million times, he takes off his shirt and is about to rip some off, when Katara murmurs "Use mine," and he gently tears a strip off the bottom of her too-long shirt.

Using some of it to wipe off the blood around the cut - which looks to be from some sort of sharp edge - he bandages the rest tightly. Katara whimpers in pain, and Zuko feels a tiny bit of his inner fire coming back. He tries to be gentle but knows the wound has to be tightly wrapped. He knows her healing powers and wishes for even a little water, but the room in which they're in allows for none.

It's a tiny stone room, without any light but the solitary candle. It's small enough that even that light is enough to light the whole room. Not that he has his bending, but there's no way he could bend his way out. There's no door, or way of knowing where he is - whether he's even above ground or not.

"Aang, we need you," she mumbles confusedly as she lapses back into unconsciousness. He slips an arm around her shoulders, lifting her up until she leans on the wall. Holding her in place with his arm (the blood shouldn't all go to her head), he sits down to wait, lost in the murky emotions into which Aang's name sends him.

* * *

_After heading off Azula and securing the capital, Katara and Zuko headed towards where they knew Aang and Ozai would be, despite Katara's concerns about Zuko's health. They found Aang with Ozai, who was lying defeated on a rock._

_Zuko surprisingly had nothing to say to his father, instead he went straight to Aang to check on him. Katara followed, wrapping Aang in a tight hug. The rest of the group joined in, and they broke apart smiling._

_As they began to swap stories, Ozai staggered to his feet, unnoticed. They had been foolish enough to think that the former Phoenix Lord's only weapon would be his fire._

_Ozai bypassed Aang and went straight for Zuko, who froze for a second too long, and then bent over in pain from his scar after trying to punch fire at Ozai. Sokka was useless, and Suki and Toph were too busy holding him up. Katara noticed a second too late, and Ozai moved too quickly for any of them to gain their bearings. As Ozai got within striking range of Zuko with his knife, Aang suddenly leaped in, pushing Zuko out of the way. Taking the blow that ended his life._

_Although Katara healed his body perfectly, sobbing all the while (a sound which cut them all to the quick), it was too late. His spirit was gone._

_They returned together to the capital, Aang's body lying between them, each of them forever haunted by the guilt and thoughts of what might have been._

* * *

When Katara wakes, dazed, she recounts reluctantly what happened while Zuko was out.

"They had given you some sort of sedative, I think, and they took you away. And...they told me that I had to tell them or they'd hurt you. And they put me in some sort of wooden cage, in the middle of a room of fire," her voice breaks, she had told Jet of her fear of fire after Aang's passing. "And I couldn't do anything and I wouldn't listen so they cut my head and made me write a letter to Haru telling him things were fine here so he should come taking the long route. They're going to put an ambush there. But I put a hint in the letter for Haru, so if he gets it..." She breaks off again, drawing her knees up and resting her throbbing head on them. Her muffled voice continues, "Otherwise it'll be a massacre, and I think I lost too much blood and I don't remember."

Zuko's control over his rage is pushed to breaking point, and Katara feels it through the unnatural tenseness in his muscles. Lifting her head up wearily, she sees half his face in shadow, stretched with anger and tension. His arm is still around her shoulders and she leans her head against him, turning slightly and wrapping her other arm around him. He relaxes a little and she falls asleep again, no longer able to struggle against the pain in her head, and the agony of betrayal.

* * *

"You're witless."

Jet just smiles. He's grown used to the cold girl's sniping. He knows she's tense too, and he's discovered the best way to irritate her is to flirt with her. "You know you love it."

She stumbles slightly, but brushes his remark aside coldly, which _shouldn't_ hurt, he reasons. "I have no interest in you."

"Aww, baby, don't play hard to get!" Jet moves towards Mai, leaning in towards her perfectly upright body.

A sharp _senbon_ is at his throat immediately. "Touch me and you die." She smirks - just a little - and he notices immediately, but remains silent about it for the moment.

"Come on, we have to check on Iroh."

"What about the other prisoners?" she asks, her voice impassive as ever.

"We're not allowed to check on them. Bumi has plans for them." Jet doesn't allow himself to think about the plans - _keep moving forward -_ and strides out of the room, Mai following behind him.

* * *

**There you have it, the reason why Katara was angry with Zuko. It might seem trifling, but sorrow and anger make a deadly combination. And even the lightning scar wasn't enough to help her with both the losses.**

**Also, check out the new poll in my profile! More reviews = quicker updates. Next chapter is almost ready!  
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	26. Chapter Twenty Five: Payback

**Hi there kids. Song is **Just Hold Me** by** Maria Mena**. Find here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=1S1novVVD3M**

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**Chapter Twenty Five** - Payback

Toph knows there's no way she can last too long. Even with the system of tunnels she's created in the cliffs surrounding the Air Temple, there's twenty master earthbenders combing the area. And she's running, but there's nowhere to hide.

She ran as soon as they came for her. Luckily, she had the element of surprise, and while the soldier who came to get her was still under the rocks she had bended at him, she punched a hole in the wall of the temple and escaped.

Since then, she's barely been ahead of the Dai Li, and she even heard Long Feng's odious voice once. As much as she wants to turn and attack them, even if she falls fighting, she knows Katara and Zuko won't stand a chance without her, once again. So she runs.

Speeding her way through a passage, she stumbles upon a Dai Li. He's soon knocked out, but the alarm has been raised, and the others congregate on the area. She bends wildly in a direction further from them, but she's heading towards the temple.

She crashes through a wall and stumbles into a cool, silent room. Probably the only one that's not filled with those filthy crusaders. Eyes widening, she recognizes the room. She freezes, not caring about the Dai Li who surround her, not even when rock cuff slam her hands and feet to the ground. Her eyes remain on a block of stone in the corner, a block which she had carved, and is now empty.

When the ground falls beneath her, she barely even notices.

* * *

Katara wakes up on the floor alone. For a second she blearily looks around, wondering where she is, but memory returns and she sees Zuko sitting in the center of the room scratching something out on the floor.

As she sits up and moves closer to him, she realizes he's scratching out some kind of map using the wax from the floor and a pebble he's found somehow. Talk about dedicated.

"I was thinking, since no one's been here since I woke up, we can start planning our escape. If they don't plan to feed us, we had better get out of here before they execute us," he says without turning around.

"Zuko, I'm sorry about Mai," Katara says softly, the hard tone in his voice intimidating her slightly. How can he be so suddenly, completely focused? She supposes he's thinking only about Iroh right now, but it's not healthy to just forget your anger like that.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I..." She doesn't know how to respond. It's not like Jet's name doesn't hurt her either. "Oh shut up and deal with it, Zuko," she finally replies in frustration. Her words are softened by the hug she gives him from behind him.

Stiff as usual, he relaxes a little and mumbles something about "touchy-feely Water Tribe people" but doesn't shrug her off, which she decides to consider progress. When she decides he's had enough time to think about it, she lets go, sits down beside him and examines what he has planned.

The tiny squiggles strain her head, which feels hot and heavy, although the rest of her body is too cold, but she ignores it and squints at them. "Is this meant to be a map of the Air Temple?"

"No, just the passages we might need to know about. I don't have enough wax for the rest. These are the ones that we know exist, but which the organization might not know about," he points to three passages.

"They've been here at least a few months. They have all kinds of benders. I'm sure they know about all of these."

"Hopefully not these ones. For the last few months, they've been focusing on the Fire Nation. These are ones Aang told me could only be opened by airbenders."

"Zuko, you know we have none of those, right?" Katara's tone was half-laughing. "And we have to get out of here first."

"I _know_. I just thought it might be useful to know that. As for getting out of here, I haven't got my bending back yet. But I can feel the flame now. Maybe they won't need to take it away, because we can't do anything here. I'm just trying to think..."

"There's no water in this room. I can't even sense any nearby."

To distract themselves from their hopelessness, they discuss the Fire Nation. Zuko's sketchy on the details, but some sort of coup has apparently taken place, possibly spearheaded by the same nobles he suspected. Iroh was taken then. There are no major changes in the Fire Nation - it is too soon - but for within the court, where great upheaval has occurred. There are murmurs of restarting the war, but thankfully it is, again, too soon to act. The nobles seem to be trying to project the image that nothing has changed. The real unveiling of the new 'leaders' seems to be centered around some sort of event planned. Zuko doesn't know the rest, having been in the Temple, but imagines the event to be something momentous, something like Ozai's planned destruction of the Earth Kingdom.

Soon, Katara discovers that this does not help her hopelessness. Neither does the cold or hunger. They return to rehashing the information they have, and what may help if they get out of the cave. If.

A hole suddenly appears through the side of the room. Katara leaps for it, Zuko an instant behind her. Food is pushed through and the gap bended shut as Katara's arm slams into it, jarring it.

The tray that has clattered to the floor contains soup, water, and vegetables. Katara turns to Zuko, eyes suddenly full of hope.

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**Cold is a symptom of minor blood loss. **

**Someone sense something odd again? :) Thanks to Angelfly06 and Dreaming11, the ONLY people to review the last chapter. I haven't forgotten MGK either, my anonymous reviewer who had the nicest things to say! Thank you :)**

**Yes, I posted today just for the pleasure of having 09-09-09 on the date!**


	27. Chapter Twenty Six: Radiate

**Because I haven't said it for a while, I DON'T own this series, but I do own the story.**

**Song for this chapter is **I'll Make A Man Out of You **from **Mulan**. I thought it was appropriate. Find it here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=vTqIsB98a1E** ! Hope you like**

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**Chapter Twenty Six** - Radiate

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**"Come _on_, Katara," Zuko urges.

The sound of his voice makes Katara want to just bend all the water in his face, preferably in a sharp icy form. After _hours_, literally, of his constant pushing, she is tired. She's taken most of the water from the food and gobbled half of the rest of the dried-out yet still filling food, Zuko following reluctantly after he sees she isn't going to work till he finishes.

There is enough water left to form a sharp instrument the size of her arm. She doesn't know exactly what she's made, but every corner is razor sharp, and has been working at filing away at and wearing down the rock. It is a long and wearisome process, and it gets no easier even as the piece of stone she's focusing on (Zuko's told her he can feel the sun from that direction) gets weaker.

Zuko's not helping. Neither is the pain in her head or her fatigue. And the room seems to grow colder. Her skin is clammy, her heart seems to have speeded up. Her work only gets slower. But Zuko keeps pushing her on. She doesn't want to be the weak one, the one to give up and thus continues eroding the wall.

When the water begins to blur with the stone - she can't tell the hours it's been - she relents. Zuko tries encouraging her again, but at this point his words make her want to stab him with an icicle. "Can you check my head again?" she grouses.

The part of Zuko that tells him to stop pushing Katara (the part that knows she's pushing herself for him) is easily suppressed. He examines the bandages after he evaluates the situation and concludes that if she faints they'll waste time - _why is she getting to save us?_ The twinge within him, the emptiness increases and he almost recognizes the feeling. If he tried firebending he would roast them alive. Anticipation, betrayal, fear and regret mix, but all he can feel is the sour taste from his stomach.

He sits down behind her, beginning to unravel the bandages. A twinge of worry dispels the sourness for merely a second. The wound has opened up again, and should probably be healed. Glancing swiftly at the weapon lying next to Katara, he realizes she hasn't even thought about using the water to heal herself.

Staring at a line of red on the back of Katara's head and the sweat dripping down the back of her neck, Zuko wakes up to what she's doing for him. "Heal yourself," he says as he breaks off some of the icicle weapon.

Katara looks doubtfully at it for a few seconds, knowing that after she heals herself they're going to have to throw away some of the water, it'll be filled with blood. Obediently, she then follows Zuko's instruction, breaking off at least half of the weapon.

The returning surge of the sourness within Zuko is tempered when he notices that she's biting her lip and separating the pure water from the water used for healing. A drop of perspiration gathers at her temple and makes its way down to her chin, dropping on the floor as she sends the soiled water into the ground, disappearing into the stone. He realizes she's probably breaking up the water into tiny pieces to allow it to fit between the gaps in the stone and regains his respect for her bending.

Yet the louder part of him wants to scream at her to continue, he cares equally, if not more, about the people they're trying to save, and she's doing everything.

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Thank you for the reviews, I'm BACK, baby! Thank you especially for anonymous reviews, I left them open hoping for the best and you haven't disappointed me. To Alexandra, you'll find out soon!**  
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Katara's symptoms are those of minor blood loss, which grows more severe if untreated.  
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	28. Chapter Twenty Seven: Control

**I will try and update, your reviews inspire me. Just a straw poll, how many people listen to these songs? Or else I'll stop putting them! The song is **Who Are You?** by **The Who **and can be found here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=l_FZVD5lsAw

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Chapter Twenty Seven** - Control

What do you do when the one thing you want most in the world comes to you? And what if it has become the one thing you feared most? Toph is frozen. Almost literally. She is in a near-catatonic state, staring straight ahead, unable to take in anything.

She doesn't know where she is, just that the room is almost empty. She doesn't care about this room. All she remembers is the last one, with the coffin that she had carved out of stone for Aang, only she herself knowing what it had cost her.

And now, with this familiar stranger, Toph finally lets herself cry for Aang. Once she starts, it's impossible to stop.

She had loved him, she knows that now.

* * *

Katara continues to hammer away at stone. It's almost as hard as trying to convince Toph of something when she doesn't want to listen. Her head has healed, but she's still unbelievably tired. She's been up all night, and the stone feels weaker, but she's nowhere near to breaking through to anywhere else.

She doesn't even know what awaits them in the room they're trying to break into. For all she knows, it could be Dai Li headquarters, and they'd just be put back in this room. All she knows is that Zuko can feel the sun from that direction.

She can't fault Zuko for his dedication, at least, although in the last few hours she's wanted to stab him a few times. He's stayed up with her all night, though he had no need to. She knows he feels helpless, and suspects he stayed up not to keep her company but to reassure himself he had some role in this. She's suggested using sweat to get some additional water, but sensed Zuko was overworking himself and stopped him (to his reluctance) after a while.

It's stupid, of course. At the moment, Katara finds everything annoying. She's cranky, and knows it's best to keep her mouth shut. Luckily Zuko stays silent, although it is a sullen silence, full of stubborn unsaid words of anger.

* * *

Their 'relationship' consists of Jet teasing Mai to get a reaction, and her imperturbability to his repeated attacks. It's not the same with Katara, she was an ideal, gorgeous and head-over-heels in love with him. He wasn't stupid enough not to know that.

Mai is not beautiful - not by Earth Kingdom standards where voluptuous, smiling girls are the norm. Ice cold and expressionless, she seems to be above all the squalor of the rebel camp. He can't understand why he sometimes wants to chase the detached look from her face.

So he continues to play the idiot with her, joking and sacrificing his dignity in the hope of a reaction, something different from the dispassionate look she always wears. Anger, annoyance, anything will do. He won't hope for a smile, knowing that was probably what she had once saved for Zuko.

They're both sinners, different from Zuko and Katara, and somehow he needs a reaction from her.

"Hey, did you hear the one about the Fire Nation girl who had half a brain? She was gifted!"  
"Pfft." No reaction.  
"I like you." Cringeworthy silence.  
"Good for you." But he's happy, because he thinks he saw the hint of a blush.

A head peeks into the room. "Bumi needs you, to plan the strategy for the final takeover of the Fire Nation. And to decide what to do with the prisoners."

They leave, and even Jet is serious.

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**Thank you very much to anonymous reviewer MGK, whose suggestions about sweatbending were something I'd completely forgotten about! I wished I could contact you somehow to thank you for your amazing reviews and so I did!**


	29. Chapter Twenty Eight: Follow

**Thank you again, **MGK**, for your encouraging reviews. I suggest you create an account so I can respond more personally!**

**Song for this chapter is **Riots **from **Slumdog Millionaire** found here - **http://wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=LQ65A8AKedI **Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Twenty Eight** - Follow

It takes only a second. She didn't expect it, there were none of the usual signs, no crumbling or further weakening of the wall. There was only another, yet another, working at the stone and the wall suddenly gives way above her. It isn't a slight crumbling of gravel, but the utter destruction of a thick wall (finally eroded away by water) and she is almost buried by the stone. If not for Zuko immediately darting forward and pulling her behind, she would have been buried.

It's been a sunrise and a sunset since the water first arrived, Zuko knows. Apart from being punctuated by a brief rest, they've been working nonstop, undisturbed since. Before he boosts Katara up into the unknown, he quickly squeezes her hand. She squeezes back, smiles, and no words are needed.

It's only been a few seconds since the wall was broken, but as Zuko boosts Katara up into the room, it feels like an eternity. He can only pray that destruction does not await them above, although from the noise approaching the wall, it seems it might.

* * *

"Oh Agni. Oh Tui. Oh La. Oh Badgermoles. Oh spirits." Toph is uncharacteristically hiccuping the words through her dissipating tears as the truth sinks in. Her grief has become something more manageable, especially with Aang in front of her.

But they have no time.

* * *

Haru knows he has never been able to make it in time to help the Gaang. During the crucial moments, such as before Ozai's fall, he was never able to act significantly to help the people who had not only changed his life, but the world. And now, again, it seems he is too late to be of use in helping the rebel uprising. Even the 'army' of training benders of all kinds he has gathered seem to be of no use.

The front lines of the marching platoon read the message and begin to turn back.

* * *

On the way to discussing the prisoners with Bumi, Jet and Mai hear an ominous rumbling from within the recesses of the temple. They would have assumed that the earthbender had finally been captured, but it's bigger than that.

Exchanging a glance, they set off at a run, in perfect harmony for once.

* * *

Appa and Momo do not normally need words. Being in Zuko's stables for so long has allowed silence to fall upon them. Never talkative, they have forgotten their customary squeaks and grunts.

At this moment, both understand the message, and leave, despite the best attempts of the stablehands.

* * *

As the Dragon of the West, he has known both the scorn and praise of people, treatment both good and bad. Yet, in his cell, he knows his time here is over as he hears a commotion filled with the sound of breaking rocks. He prepares.

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Now would be a good time for one of Katara's speeches about hope. Yet none of them have the luxury of time

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**MAJOR plot development this time around! **

**(at the risk of sounding pathetic) REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

** | (please)  
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** | (do)  
**

** | (review)  
**

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	30. Chapter Twenty Nine: Nuclear

**No song for this chapter - pick your own!

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**Chapter Twenty Nine** - Nuclear

The Dai Li (they have been trained to think as a whole, they are no longer individuals) are distracted by the commotion from other parts of the temple as they approach the place where they have tracked the earthbending girl to, yet again.

However, they have learned to never disobey orders, _without exception_, so continue with the task they have already been assigned to.

As they move into the room, an unexpected sight awaits them. A large number of rocks have been arranged into the characters spelling out "So long, suckers."

They have been taught to have no emotion, or there would definitely have been a reaction.

* * *

It's a disturbing feeling to lose all your senses, in more ways than one. Yet the fact that she utterly trusts Aang is of some comfort to Toph as he flies with her towards another part of the temple.

She hasn't bothered to question how or why as yet, all she knows is that her feet are telling her that he is solid and not some apparition of her lonely mind. And that is enough for now.

* * *

Suki and Sokka have been anxious about the fragile peace the world has established ever since Aang's passing. Katara's subsequent disappearance, and Toph's breakdown were only two of the ripple effects, and despite all the happiness in their lives, it was impossible for them to forget about the grief all their friends experienced.

The news that the Fire Nation has fallen is closely guarded, as the traitorous nobles wish to give the appearance of the country being in order until a certain event occurs. The nature of this event is unknown, yet the talk of the country's fall has seeped out eventually to a select few.

When Suki receives the messenger hawk, it has already been a few weeks since Iroh's disappearance. Upon reading the news, her hand involuntarily makes its way to her swollen stomach, as if to protect the baby inside from a suddenly dangerous world.

The stabbing pain that comes with the sudden rush of water that falls on her feet is not how she believed the delivery would occur. Gran-Gran says she will try her best, but she can't hide the crinkle of worry on her forehead. Something is wrong.

* * *

Zuko knew it was a risk to let Katara go up into the unknown first. But she had insisted, and he was unsure about her ability to boost him up. And as he scrambles through the gap in the wall, he wonders if he made the wrong choice. Nevertheless, he is grateful for the opportunity to finally be useful.

They find a temporary respite, as although the temple seems to have erupted into commotion, the noise has not reached them yet. Zuko sees three passages that can be taken. Not having Toph's earthbending as a guide, he decides to trust Katara's instincts - she is already rushing down the third as he makes his way into the room. She only pauses to glance back to see that he is there, and then rushes forth.

The passage is empty for now, which is a blessing. However, he can't help but wonder if she has any idea where she's going.

* * *

Bumi's orders are strict - restrict all outbreaks, prevent rebellions, attack anyone who attacks you. Jet and Mai, along with all the other leaders, scurry off to different parts of the temple. Although Bumi's ideas are disorganized, Long Feng has rehearsed these maneuvers enough for them to be effective and well-planned.

The 'breakouts' or whatever crises there may be seem like a minor hiccup in the daily workings of the Temple. Yet some know that it is about to become much, much more.

* * *

Iroh knows when to trust people and when to reject them. So he doesn't care who his rescuers are, and he finds a small nugget of trust for them growing as they proceed with their explanation. He's been helped by them before, and who's to say it won't happen again?

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**I've been getting intermittent reviews that inspired me, thanks to all who've been reviewing and a special thanks to Shantih707. **

**A lot of plot threads being woven together this chapter, hope you enjoy! For those who haven't read the story in ages and want a reminder of what's going on, I'll be happy to provide a short summary if you request it in the reviews :)  
**


	31. Chapter Thirty: Yesterday

**No more songs until I decide :) or you request

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**Chapter Thirty** - Yesterday

Zuko is slightly fazed when the corridor leads to a dead end, but Katara doesn't seem to bother, gathering some water and smashing through the wall.

The water is minimal, but her force helps, and she rushes through another hallway. He follows her blindly, hoping she has some purpose. He aches to find Iroh and severely beat those who captured him but knows they need to find Toph, or at least formulate some sort of plan.

Rounding the corner, he sees Katara engaged in battle with about ten soldiers, all in the same grey uniform of the Rebellion. She's more than a match for them, but there's various types of benders among them and the different styles of movement are slightly confusing her.

He takes a quick glance at the opponents and joins in, blending his bursts of fire with physical kicks and punches. Together they make quick work of them, and are soon on their way again.

Suddenly, she presses herself against a wall. Before he can ask why, she bends some water out from somewhere behind the wall - probably one of the water sources leading to the fountain. Turning back toward the soldiers, she grabs an unconscious waterbender's water flask and places the water in it.

Katara is completely driven by some kind of purpose, Zuko observes as he runs after her when she sets off again. He doesn't bother to question her - she's a warrior too and he trusts her instincts to find somewhere they can regroup. He can see her single-mindedness, but can't decide whether her purpose is revenge on Jet, payback for Aang, or trying to help him for Iroh's sake. It's probably a mix of all of them, as well as trying to help the world rebuild its fragile peace. She never was the selfish kind.

She reaches the middle of the next corridor - he can't even tell where they came from now, then turns rapidly around and rushes back at him. Taken aback, he freezes.

"Give me a boost up," she hurries out. He barely gets his hands locked in front of him before she jumps up on them and jumps straight up towards the ceiling. He can't help but cringe slightly as her head approaches the stone ceiling, but suddenly her hands are up above her head and she breaks through the mock-stone covering some sort of secret alcove.

Once inside, she leans down as far as possible to pull Zuko up. It's still not far enough, but Zuko jumps off the wall and makes it inside too, though somewhat less gracefully.

"Aang showed it to me," she explains. There's only the smallest catch in her voice and Zuko pretends he doesn't notice, apart from a quick comforting rub on her back.

It's a relatively small space, with not even enough room to stand up straight, and they both crouch together, whispering plans with urgency.

"I think we should try and find Toph first," Katara suggests.

Zuko is anxious to get to Iroh. "What about Uncle? He could be in serious danger!"

"They probably secured him once the commotion started, Zuko. And they haven't really harmed him yet, why now?"

"They'd probably use Toph as bait, they know we'll come for her. We'd just be falling into their hands!"

The argument continues, and time is running out.

* * *

Sokka can hear the screams through the door and must restrain himself from entering. Having been barely able to stay conscious through the birth of a stranger Katara had helped, he doubted he could take the bloody mess that lay inside. Especially when it was Suki inside.

His father and Gran-Pakku have stayed with him as he paces. His father's soothing presence is welcome, and Pakku offers reassurance from his experience, nevertheless the worry is overwhelming.

Suki. Although he had loved Yue, Suki was his soulmate. He has spent too much time with her and can't lose the woman he loved again. She is the bossy half to his sexist side, the dry counterpart to his goofy humor - the one who stood by him in all his antics. The girl who had sacrificed herself to save Appa had turned into the woman who might be sacrificing herself for their child.

He doesn't want to think about the choice he might have to make. He has heard of birthing stories from Gran-Gran where the wife and child have endangered each other's existence. And he already loves the baby he doesn't even know yet.

Yet another healer rushes past him, and as the door to the room opens he clenches his eyes shut. The screeches of pain can't be drowned out though.

And then there is silence. The door closes, but Sokka presses himself against it, hoping against hope. But there is only silence.

Gran-Gran steps out a moment later, her face solemn.

* * *

"Do you have any sort of battle sense?" Katara hisses. The argument has already gotten personal.

"If you could just stop being so uptight you might be open to new plans," Zuko retorts sharply. Her mouth opens in slight shock for a second, and then snaps shut. He can tell a response is not far in coming, and is prepared to counter her.

All the while the sense that they have to act hangs above them like a barely balanced boulder, but they can't come to any sort of consensus. Zuko is almost about to suggest they go their separate ways, when the metaphor becomes all too real and the floor collapses beneath them.

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**I love the cliffies.**


	32. Chapter Thirty One: Dungeon

**I still intend to finish this story, I promise.**

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**Chapter Thirty One** - Dungeon

The Water Tribes were preparing for battle. Not in an obvious manner, so as not to alert the newcomers in power in the Fire Nation or to cause their people to panic, but enough to be able to protect themselves adequately in case of attack.

Once Hakoda and Sokka had found out about the takeover of the Fire Nation, they had covertly informed Arnook of this - who was taken aback as there had been no outward sign that the power behind the Fire Nation had changed. The plotters were clever, there was no denying it. They aimed to make sudden attacks on other nations, who have been lulled into some sense of peace and security through Zuko's efforts.

Even Kuei and the White Lotus had been sent messages, informing them to be alert. Although life in all the Nations seems to go on as normal, an observant person might notice that there has been more than routine strengthening of the Water Tribe forts recently. Or that the patrols in Ba Sing Se seem to have increased, and security at the wall is being beefed up.

The world teeters on the brink of war, even as most citizens remain ignorant of this fact.

* * *

Zuko is instantly ready to attack, and Katara has her water whips ready, but upon looking around his fire dissipates instantly and her water falls in a forgotten puddle on the floor.

There is a moment of stunned silence. Unexpectedly, Zuko sways, but Katara is quickly behind him to support him with her arm around his waist. The tears forming in her eyes are mirrored by those already making their way down his face.

Everything is forgotten, including where they are and the noise raging around them. Frozen, they are afraid to approach until Toph punches _his_ arm. Her old voice sounds like it's beginning to return - there isn't a trace of bitterness as she says, "Don't worry, he won't bite."

Katara smiles slightly. Zuko sees nothing but the boy in front of him.

"I'm so sorry," his voice breaking as he cries. There is immeasurable remorse behind his amber eyes, and Katara catches a glimpse of what her unforgiving treatment must have put him through. She hasn't seen him show this much emotion...ever.

Squeezing his waist in reassurance and remorse, the tears finally fall from her eyes. It is her gesture that enables Zuko to move.

Then they rush towards Aang in a mix of tears and laughter, enveloping him in a group hug. Toph stands slightly away from the group before Katara drags her in, reflecting that it feels a little like the parents are hugging their children. Though Aang is a little taller, he hasn't changed much and still can't match Zuko's height.

It doesn't matter, for the group is together again.

* * *

Several moments pass before they're able to come to their senses. They are in a deserted room - of course Aang would know the sections of the temple only accessible to airbenders.

Katara can't take her eyes off Aang, afraid he might cease to exist if he does. She sees Zuko is doing the same. The only noticeable difference in Aang is the length of his hair, which is somewhat close to his head, much like Zuko in Ba Sing Se. The only reason his hair and nails - which inexplicably had never stopped growing - are a reasonable length is due to his having used airbending to shorten them once she had been able to properly look at him and reprimand him.

Memories flash back of Aang falling to the ground after being struck by Azula. She shakes her head a little, and moves closer to Aang. The rest of the group has also gravitated around him as they seem unable to believe their senses.

Everything seems tinged with a sense of unreality. There will be an explanation later, no doubt. But it's time to fight.

* * *

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